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The Australian/NZ Drug Busts Mega-Thread Part Deux

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Cannabis plants seized in drug busts

Police have seized cannabis plants and other drugs in separate raids at Morwell in the Latrobe Valley.

Detectives searched a Comans Street property last week and found cannabis plants growing indoors.

A 31-year-old woman was arrested and will be charged on summons with cultivating cannabis.

Police also raided a house in Helen Street and arrested a 72-year-old man.

The man will be charged on summons with trafficking a drug of dependence.

Article
 
Navy chief issues drug warning to sailors

The Chief of Navy has written an open letter to Navy personnel addressing the recent exposure of an alleged drug ring at Sydney's Garden Island Naval Base.

Defence has confirmed Navy personnel are being investigated over the alleged use and supply of steroids, while an anonymous source has told the ABC that sailors are also trafficking heroin and cocaine.

In a post on the Navy's official Facebook page, Vice Admiral Russ Crane urged personnel to report any drug use or trafficking.

He says the Navy tests a minimum of 25 per cent of its workforce each year.

"The use and trafficking of drugs can have devastating consequences - both for the individual concerned and for those around them," he said.

"They end relationships, careers and eventually they end lives.

"Members of all ranks are educated and counselled regularly about the dangers of illegal substances."

Vice Admiral Crane warned there would be dire consequences for anybody who broke the Navy's zero-tolerance policy on drugs.

He says there has been a significant reduction in positive test results over the past year.

"Those who choose to flaunt [Navy] values for personal gain ... will be dealt with and held accountable for their actions in both civil and military tribunals," he said.

Vice Admiral Crane says the Navy goes to great lengths to ensure its ships are not being used to carry illegal contraband.

"There have been a number of operations where sniffer dogs have been called upon and they are just one of several methods Customs use," he said.

"Navy works pro-actively with law enforcement authorities in all states as well as Customs on a regular basis."

The Navy insider told the ABC of claims that the drug ring had been operating for years.

"[For] 99.9 per cent of the time, Customs don't bring [sniffer] dogs onto the ship ... and dogs can't get down into certain parts of the ships," the source said earlier this week.

They also said naval ships that recently took part in the Pacific Rim war games in Hawaii returned with packages of drugs that were bound for Sydney's red light district.

The source, a sailor, says more than 30 people on one ship alone have tested positive to using drugs.

They claim the drug ring infiltrates all ranks of the Navy's sailors.

"It's junior sailors, it's senior sailors. That's why no-one will talk to you," the source said.

from here
 
Police arrest four in relation to drug ring

New South Wales Police have arrested four Goulburn men in connection with an alleged drug ring.

Police searched two homes at Goulburn and Yarra on the outskirts of the city this morning.

They seized items including an unregistered firearm, ammunition, cannabis and an air rifle.

Police allege a 71-year-old man and his 36-year-old son were involved in the supply of $100,000 worth of speed over a nine-month period.

Two of the four men faced Goulburn Court today.

They were refused bail and will face court again in February.

Here
 
[NZ] Grandmother arrested in Rotorua police drug bust

A 52-year-old grandmother was one of 17 arrested following a series of drug busts by Rotorua police.

Police executing 10 search warrants at several Rotorua "tinnie houses" in the past week found drugs and stolen property.

Those arrested face more than 150 charges between them, including the possession and supply of methamphetamine, cannabis and cannabis oil.

Rotorua Detective Sergeant Ryan Yardley put the operation's success down to information police received from locals concerned about criminal activity in their neighbourhoods.

"This operation has demonstrated that Rotorua communities have had enough and they are taking action to do something about it. They are to be commended for coming forward," he said.

It was "particularly disappointing and disturbing" for police to find children at some of the homes involved in the drug sting, Mr Yardley said.

"Due to the activities of those around them, they have been exposed to the day to day world of drug dealing. This is not okay."

The children had been referred to Child, Youth and Family.

- NZPA

NZ Herald
 
Drug bust triggers trafficking charges

A 31-year-old man has been charged with drug trafficking and a number of other offences, after police raided a business on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Police allegedly seized hydroponic cannabis plants and other equipment from the Southport premises yesterday.

A man from Varsity Lakes has been charged with trafficking, supplying, producing and possessing dangerous drugs, as well as two property and drug utensil offences.

He is due to appear in the Southport Magistrates Court today.

from here
 
[NZ] P and cannabis dealer jailed for three years

A Whangarei man caught dealing methamphetamine and cannabis has been jailed for three years.

Home detention was rejected as an option for Lawrence Fenton when he appeared for sentencing in the Whangarei District Court on 49 drugs charges.

They included two of supplying methamphetamine or P, nine of conspiracy to supply P, two of conspiracy to supply P with a co-accused, 33 of offering to supply P and three charges of offering to supply cannabis.

About 13g of methamphetamine worth $12,000 was involved.

Crown prosecutor David Stevens told the court Fenton, 36, had 62 previous convictions, including 10 in the Youth Court.

Fenton's lawyer, Richard Garbett, said guilty pleas were entered at the first opportunity, and home detention with conditions would be an appropriate penalty.

He told Judge Jan Bouchier Fenton had $18,315 in fines which he could not pay.

Judge Bouchier ruled out home detention, saying drugs could be sold via text messages while serving a non-custodial sentence.

She sentenced Fenton to three years' jail on the methamphetamine charges and a concurrent term of nine months for offering to supply cannabis.

NZ Herald
 
Woman found at Sydney Airport with cocaine

AN American woman who was travelling with her two children has allegedly been caught with cocaine at Sydney Airport.

The 44-year-old woman was stopped by Customs and Border Protection officers who say about 1.5 to 2kg of cocaine was hidden in the lining of her suitcase - offending that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and/or an $825,000 fine.

The officers stopped the woman and her two children and X-rayed their suitcases when they arrived at Sydney International Airport on a flight from Miami via San Francisco yesterday.

The woman was charged by the Australian Federal Police with procuring children for importing or exporting marketable quantities of border controlled drugs or border controlled plants - the maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment and/or a $825,000 fine.

She was also charged with importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug, namely cocaine.

The maximum penalty for this offence is 25 years imprisonment and/or a $550,000 fine.

Her arrest followed the seizure of 2.5kg of cocaine and the arrest of a 23-year-old woman by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement yesterday in Miami.

news.com.au
 
Alleged Australian drug lord arrested in Turkey

An alleged Australian drug lord has been arrested in the Turkish part of Cyprus.

Warrants were issued for Hakan Ayik after an Australian Crime Commission investigation into drug importations of ice, heroin and ecstasy into Sydney and Melbourne.

Ayik, who was raised in Sydney and has a Turkish background, is closely connected to a Sydney bikie gang is a fitness fanatic and a bar and brothel owner.

He fled Australia in August when New South Wales Police issued a warrant for his arrest.

He evaded capture in Cyprus a month ago, but he has now been arrested in Kyrenia by Turkish Cypriot police who say they have seized drug weighing equipment.

It not yet clear wether Australian warrants can be exercised there.

here
 
House fire reveals cannabis crop

Emergency crews responding to a house fire at Werribee in Melbourne's west have found cannabis being grown at the premises.

The Country Fire Authority says a hydroponic set up was found at the Egert Court house while crews were trying to put out the fire on Saturday evening.

No-one was home when the crews arrived.

Police have seized 18 mature cannabis plants from the property and are investigating the incident.

here
 
Men charged with drug trafficking

Two men have been charged with drug trafficking and possession near Queensland's Sunshine Coast .

Police searched two cars near Tanawha, west of Moloolaba, overnight and found cannabis and cash.

here
 
Extra jail for Qantas drug breach

A QANTAS employee who abused her trusted position to help import drugs will spend an extra year in jail after her sentence was increased on appeal.

The need for general deterrence was relevant in Anne Nikolovska's case because of her breach of trust, the Court of Criminal Appeal ruled.

''She had a security clearance,'' Justice David Kirby said. ''She was trusted. She knew the system. That knowledge and that trust was valuable to an importer. Ms Nikolovska traded that advantage for money.''

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Nikolovska, a controls analyst at the airline's Sydney Distribution Centre at Mascot, had worked for Qantas for 27 years. Her security clearance gave her access to imported goods held in a secure area.

In 2007 a former colleague at the airline, Wagih Nakhla, asked her to intercept a package from Africa.

Nikolovska agreed to deliver him the package, for a $10,000 fee. But customs, acting on a tip-off from the federal police, got to the package first - and found it contained almost two kilograms of cocaine.

The parcel was delivered as part of a controlled operation and ended up on someone else's desk. Police were tapping the phones when Nikolovska called Nakhla to tell him: ''Hey, we're in strife.'' She was arrested within hours. She and Nakhla both pleaded guilty to importing a marketable quantity of cocaine. Nakhla was jailed for at least five years and nine months.

In the District Court last year Judge John Nicholson jailed Nikolovska for up to six years, to serve a minimum three years and nine months, saying she knew drugs would be imported.

However, the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the sentence. Agreeing with the Crown that the sentence was too light, the appeal judges added a year to her non-parole period and another 18 months to her maximum term.

Nikolovska will be eligible for parole in 2012.

here
 
Police target drugs at Falls music festival

Sniffer dogs will attend Tasmania's biggest music festival as part of a police crackdown on alcohol and drug abuse.

About 16,000 concert-goers are expected to attend the three-day Falls Festival at Marion Bay in the state's south-east.

Inspector Glenn Keating says the event will be patrolled by more than 100 officers in uniform and plain clothes.

"We'll have drug investigation services police there and the drug detection dogs," Inspector Keating said.

Police have also warned of slow traffic on roads into and out of the site.

"There will be random breath testing conducted at the end of the event," Inspector Keating said. "It will not be every vehicle stopped but there will be cars pulled off into a paddock area for that purpose."

here
 
Three arrested in $150k drug bust

Police believe they have made a significant dent in the availability of illegal drugs this New Year's Eve, after seizing $150,000 worth of drugs in north-west Sydney.

Police raided two homes in Castle Hill and Galston yesterday seizing 3,000 pills believed to be ecstasy tablets, $17,000 in cash, and several vials of steroids.

A 20-year-old man and his 18-year-old girlfriend have been arrested.

They have been charged with more than 13 drug offences including dealing in the proceeds of crime.

The pair has been refused bail and are due to face Parramatta Local Court today.

A third man has also been arrested and is assisting police with their inquiries.

Officers say yesterday's arrests were part of a seven-month long investigation into the supply of drugs in the north-west region.

here
 
[update and pics] 3000 pills seized as police smash drug ring

POLICE have seized about 3000 pills believed to be ecstasy, denting supplies of the illicit drug for New Year's Eve.

Mehran Dorrani, 20, from Castle Hill, was arrested with his 18-year-old girlfriend on Wednesday following a seven-month investigation.

Dorrani, a chemistry student at Macquarie University, is accused of being the mastermind behind a supply scheme that imported powder from the US then manufactured pills for sale on the local market.

Police raided his unit on Wednesday and seized more than $17,000 cash, a quantity of ecstasy pills and a large amount of the powder.

A second search warrant was executed on a Galston residence on Wednesday night. Police charged a 23-year-old man with drug supply offences and seized a large quantity of drugs.

Dorrani was charged with 13 drug offences and was refused bail.

from here
 
Police arrest 59 people at Syummerdayze

VICTORIAN police were disappointed that 59 drug-related arrests were made at Melbourne's Summerdayze annual dance party.

The arrests, made using a police-dog operation at the New Year's Day event, led to 51 people being referred to a drug diversion program and eight people being interviewed in relation to trafficking.

Drugs seized at the Myer Music Bowl venue included ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis.

Senior Sergeant Donald Brown of the Melbourne Divisional Response Unit said police were disappointed by the number of drug offences detected.

"There is this idea with some young people that taking drugs enhances their day out, but in reality they are putting their lives at risk by taking illegal drugs," he said.

"People need to be aware that there is no such thing as a safe party drug."


"There are heavy penalties associated with drug use and trafficking and a drug conviction is a black mark against your name that can never be removed."

Sen-Sgt Brown said the dog operation was about harm minimisation, preventing overdoses and nabbing drug traffickers.

here
 
Killer cocaine cartel has Sydney in sights

A MEXICAN criminal sent to Sydney to oversee the distribution of a huge cocaine importation by one of the world's most violent drug cartels had his cover blown and ended up murdered and mutilated.

The man fled the country before Australian authorities smashed the operation of the Sinaloa cartel's drug operation in June last year, seizing 240 kilograms of cocaine and arresting four people.

But he did not live long. His chopped-up remains were found in the boot of a car in Mexico, where the escalating drug wars have resulted in tens of thousands of violent deaths.

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The gruesome murder has fuelled fears that the extreme violence used by the cartel may spread to Australia. The group's presence in the country is increasing and Mexicans here have quietly expressed concerns about the reach of the cartel considered one of the biggest, best-resourced and most ruthless in the world.

International organisations, such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, have warned that the Mexican cartels are growing in size and strength. They are moving drugs to the US, Europe and Australia. The UN drugs office says because cocaine is cheap at the source, the biggest profits are made when wholesalers deliver to the destination countries of drug consumers.

The Mexicans have stepped up their interest in Australia as a drug market because of the far higher prices paid here for drugs. The street price for a gram of cocaine in Australia is double, and sometimes triple, that in other Western nations.

Australian authorities are so concerned about the influx of cocaine that the Australian Crime Commission said in its 2009-10 report it would target cocaine imports as one of its new priorities for the coming year.

Even though there have been several large busts in the past couple of years, the lure of big profits appears to keep Mexican criminals sending the drugs to Australia.

The Australian Customs Service reported that the total weight of cocaine seized declined from 505.27 kilograms in 2008-09 to 386.78 kilograms last financial year.

Although there was a big increase in the amount of cocaine seized from airline passengers and crew, most cocaine is imported through cargo and international mail.

The Australian Federal Police say there may be a trend away from amphetamines towards cocaine. In their latest annual report federal police said Australia received cocaine from various regions, including South America, and drug seizures had quadrupled since the 1980s.

In 2009 two men were sentenced to a total 32 years in jail for separate incidents of importing almost 100 kilograms of cocaine from Mexico.

After the seizure of a 240 kilogram shipment in June last year, The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that the Sinaloa cartel had infiltrated Australia, importing up to half the cocaine used on the east coast during the past two years.

Authorities suspect the group - led by Mexico's most wanted man - already dominated this country's cocaine trade before authorities intercepted the shipment.

The Sinaloa cartel is controlled by the billionaire drug lord Joaquin ''El Chapo'' Guzman.

Its clashes with rival drug syndicates have sparked unprecedented bloodshed, murder and corruption in Mexico. More than 28,000 people have died in Mexico since 2006 in the drug wars.

The NSW Crime Commission's annual report warned about the extreme violence being used against people who have worked for the cartels in Australia.

The report said that the methods used by the drug syndicates in Mexico were so brutal they even surprised drug investigators in North America.

''It is therefore necessary to focus attention on these relatively new groups in Australia,'' the report said.

Authorities believe the cartels that have been regularly smuggling cocaine into Australia in the past few years use a similar modus operandi. They send the shipments by cargo and then send trained operatives from Mexico who are highly disciplined and use existing business fronts and infrastructure to take possession of the shipments and oversee distribution.

When the cartel's Australian arm was busted in June it was the nation's fifth-biggest cocaine seizure - and worth at least $83 million.

The cocaine was produced in South or Central America, hidden in paving stones and then shipped from Mexico to Melbourne, where the syndicate planned to send it to Sydney by truck.

smh
 
Festival guard accused of selling drugs

Police patrolling a Sydney music festival have arrested and charged a security guard with selling drugs at the event.

Police say the 51-year-old man had $390 in cash on him and 50 ecstasy tablets at the Field Day Festival in the Domain.

They say cannabis was found in his car.

Police say they also found six ecstasy tablets on a 25-year-old man they allege bought drugs from the security guard.

The security guard, from Lidcombe, was charged with two counts of supplying a prohibited drug, dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime and drug possession.

He has been granted conditional bail and is due to appear in North Sydney Local Court on January 25.

The 25-year-old man was issued with a court attendance notice for drug possession and is due in Downing Centre Local Court on January 24.

Two other people were also charged with supplying drugs at the festival.

A total of 111 people were arrested among the crowd of 20,000.

Seven festival-goers were taken to hospital for suspected drug overdoses.

here
 
Drug stash found after freeway crash

Police discovered drugs after being called to a car accident on the Westgate Freeway in Melbourne's west on Saturday afternoon.

When police arrived at the scene, they found a driver apparently under the influence of drugs.

A search of the man's car uncovered about 100 ecstasy tablets, the drug GHB and cash.

More drugs were allegedly found during a search of the man's Werribee property.

A 27-year-old man has been charged with a range of drug and driving offences and will face court tomorrow.

here
 
Scores arrested at Melbourne music festival

Close to 60 people were arrested outside a music festival in Melbourne yesterday.

Summadayze was anything but the ideal start to the year for dozens of party-goers busted carrying drugs.

Police sniffer dogs patrolling the parks around the Sidney Myer Music Bowl discovered ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis on 59 people.

Police say the biggest individual drug haul was 35 ecstasy pills.

More than 30 arrests were made before gates even opened.

Eight people were questioned by police on suspicion of trafficking drugs.

The others will be offered drug counselling instead of being charged.

here
 
'I found pot in bush'

A MAN has been sentenced to community service after police found more than 9kg of cannabis at his home.
Robert Little, 26, of Main St, Rossglen, about 40km south of Port Macquarie, appeared before magistrate Thomas Hodgson on Monday .

He had pleaded guilty to a charge of supplying cannabis.

Little told police in April he had found the cannabis in a bag in bushland.

His solicitor, Michael Giles, said there was no evidence to the contrary to say how it had been obtained.

There was no proof “any commercial gain whatsoever”, Mr Giles said.

Little also had been “fully compliant” with police.

Port Macquarie Local Court’s Mr Hodgson had regard to the quantity of cannabis, the submission on penalty and a pre-sentence report.

He said he believed Little would come back “a lot worse” if he was sent to jail.

He ordered Little to perform 300 hours’ community service as a direct alternative to 18 months in prison.

The drugs are to be destroyed.

here
 
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