Canadian cruise passengers caught trying to smuggle £17m of cocaine into Australia

Drugs seizure is country's biggest ever carried by passengers of cruise ship or airliner

Melina Roberge faces life in prison (Instagram @belliszaa)

Three Canadians have been arrested for allegedly smuggling £17m worth of cocaine into Australia on a luxury cruise.

Melina Roberge, 23, Isabelle Lagacé, 28, and Andre Tamine, 63, all from Quebec, were detained by border police who raided the MS Sea Princess in Sydney.

Australian authorities seized more than 95 kilograms of the drug, which had been stowed in suitcases in the three passengers' cabins.

The alleged smugglers had been travelling on the ship for 51 days, on a round-the-world trip which Roberge had documented on Instagram.

The 23-year-old posted several images of herself and Lagacé lounging in bikinis on exotic beaches.

The cruise liner departed from England in July, sailing to Canada, the USA, Peru, and New Zealand before arriving in Australia.

In Sydney, passengers were prevented from leaving the vessel on Sunday while border agents with sniffer dogs searched the ship's 2,000 berths.

The haul from the three Canadians' cabins was the single largest seizure in Australia of drugs carried by passengers of a cruise ship or airliner, Australian Border Force (ABF) commander Tim Fitzgerald said in a statement.

The ABF said it had co-operated with several other border agencies to target the ship, which they had marked as high-risk.

The three suspects appeared before Sydney Central Local court, charged with importing a commercial quantity of cocaine. They are yet to enter a plea but could all face life imprisonment if convicted under Australian smuggling laws.

ABF Assistant Commissioner Clive Murray said the seizure was yet another example of international cooperation leading to significant results in the fight against international drug syndicates.

“These syndicates should be on notice that the Australian Border Force is aware of all of the different ways they attempt to smuggle drugs into our country and we are working with a range of international agencies to stop them,” he said.

He added that Australian Federal Police investigations remained ongoing and that further arrests have not been ruled out.