Three men forced to cling to an esky to survive in wild seas off Albany as they tried to import hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into Western Australia have been described by a judge as “Keystone criminals” at their sentencing.

The men had to be rescued from the ocean off Albany after they took nine large packages of cocaine from a bulk carrier onto their boat, which then sank in rough seas in 2023.

Mate Stipinovich, Karl Whitburn, and Aristides Avlonitis donned life jackets and clung to a blue esky for hours before being saved.

When police later went to recover the boat, named Aces and Eights, they found more than 270 packages of white powder, which had come from the nine larger packages, weighing 229 kilograms.

The men were eventually arrested, with Stipinovich found hiding in a voi

See Full Page