MELBOURNE, Australia -- For nearly a month, agents of the Australian police had been shadowing three men, expecting them to receive a shipment of drugs -- from somewhere. This seemed the night: Detectives had followed the three to a desolate, windswept beach on Australia's southern coast.
As the suspects waited there in the midst of a storm, the worst in years, the agents peered through sheets of rain and saw an extraordinary sight: a North Korean freighter, maneuvering dangerously close to rocks and coral reefs.
Soon a dinghy was fighting its way toward shore carrying 110 pounds of almost pure heroin, stamped with the best brand from Southeast Asia's clandestine drug labs, police say. Proceeds from the drugs would go to prop up the impoverished North Korean government, they believe.
This was followed by a dramatic, four-day chase of the freighter through angry seas. By the time it ended on...