SYDNEY, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Five men have been arrested and charged after Australian police seized more than one ton of cocaine found on a boat off the country's east coast, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Police in the state of New South Wales (NSW) said on Sunday in a joint media release.

NSW police force and AFP officers intercepted the vessel on Friday morning, about nine nautical miles off the coast of Nambucca Heads in northern NSW.

Approximately 1,110 blocks of cocaine, weighing 1,039 kg with a street value of 623.4 million Australian dollars (about 399.7 million U.S. dollars), were found on the boat.

Two men, aged 24 and 26, were arrested on board and escorted to shore. At the same time, another three men, aged 28, 29 and 35, were arrested on the shore.

The two men on the boat were charged with supplying prohibited drugs in a large commercial quantity and participating in a criminal group. The other three men were charged with taking part in the supply of a prohibited drug in a large commercial quantity and participating in a criminal group.

NSW Police said it launched an investigation after obtaining intelligence in relation to the "suspicious" purchase of a 13-meter boat with a large sum of cash in southern Sydney on April 28.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Dametto said that Australia's vast coastline is "attractive" to organized crime groups but that criminals who use the smuggling method "risk both their freedom and their lives."

Investigations into the origin of the drugs are ongoing. ■