poledriver
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
- Messages
- 11,543
Aus - The $10 Million drug sting
http://www.smh.com.au/national/sting-fingers-corrupt-officials-20120323-1vpb9.html
THE Australian government authorised more than $10 million in suspected drug funds to be sent offshore in an extraordinary operation which revealed top Asian politicians and police are involved in a criminal syndicate, according to an intelligence briefing.
The Australian Crime Commission briefing describes a multibillion-dollar international drug and money-laundering network that poses ''a significant threat to the Australian community''.
The briefing outlines the findings of Operation Dayu, a four-year intelligence inquiry into money laundering and drug trafficking in Asia and the Pacific.
The operation included running an undercover money-laundering operation, a controversial but legal practice that involved the commission sending $10.6 million of suspected drug funds offshore to identify overseas crime bosses and their activities.
The operation, run in partnership with the federal police, state agencies and the anti-money-laundering agency Austrac, seized drugs worth an estimated $780 million and exposed a triad-led global criminal entity known as the "grandfather syndicate".
The briefing says the syndicate is responsible for at least $1.2 billion worth of drug imports to Australia annually, including shipments distributed by outlaw bikie gangs.
According to the briefing, which was supplied to overseas agencies, Operation Dayu uncovered intelligence that the syndicate had infiltrated a high level of government ''in both law enforcement agencies and political circles" in Asia, including China, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Macau.
"There are a number of other countries where this is suspected but not apparent to date," the briefing says. One example involved a "high-placed triad associate" of the grandfather syndicate "attending an Interpol conference in New York". The findings highlight the extraordinary challenge facing Australian law enforcement agencies trying to combat drug importation via the nation's porous and, according to some police sources, vulnerable or corrupted border security regime. The syndicate has its origins in a "triad conglomerate" formed by formerly warring triad groups in Asia a decade ago.
It runs much like a multinational company, with operating hubs that shift with demand and supply. Australia is a significant market because of the demand for illicit drugs and the fairly high prices Australians pay for them.
The briefing says: "The pooling of resources of the main triad groups has allowed them to merge their contacts, assets and holdings, creating a well-established network of contacts across many governments as well as legitimate business and company structures.''
It has "three main heads based in south-east Asia and at least 22 other primary seats [bosses]'' around the globe. It pours billions of dollars into "high-profile internet gambling facilities, Asian hotel chains and resorts, commercial construction companies, property companies in Hong Kong and Vietnam [and] casinos''.
To move money, the syndicate uses "highly placed government officials, banking staff … [to] undercut any other overt or covert money transfer facility".
Law-enforcement officials believe members or associates of the syndicate are responsible for imports to Australia dating back more than a decade, including shipments linked to the jailed Sydney crime boss Duncan Lam Sak Cheung and a 105-kilogram heroin shipment in 2005 which led to the jailing of another Asian crime boss, Ly Vi Hung.
Other seizures linked to Dayu include a $500 million ecstasy bust in 2007 and several from Canada in 2008 totalling half a tonne of illicit drugs.
The Australian Crime Commission briefing describes a multibillion-dollar international drug and money-laundering network that poses ''a significant threat to the Australian community''.
The briefing outlines the findings of Operation Dayu, a four-year intelligence inquiry into money laundering and drug trafficking in Asia and the Pacific.
The operation included running an undercover money-laundering operation, a controversial but legal practice that involved the commission sending $10.6 million of suspected drug funds offshore to identify overseas crime bosses and their activities.
The operation, run in partnership with the federal police, state agencies and the anti-money-laundering agency Austrac, seized drugs worth an estimated $780 million and exposed a triad-led global criminal entity known as the "grandfather syndicate".
The briefing says the syndicate is responsible for at least $1.2 billion worth of drug imports to Australia annually, including shipments distributed by outlaw bikie gangs.
According to the briefing, which was supplied to overseas agencies, Operation Dayu uncovered intelligence that the syndicate had infiltrated a high level of government ''in both law enforcement agencies and political circles" in Asia, including China, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Macau.
"There are a number of other countries where this is suspected but not apparent to date," the briefing says. One example involved a "high-placed triad associate" of the grandfather syndicate "attending an Interpol conference in New York". The findings highlight the extraordinary challenge facing Australian law enforcement agencies trying to combat drug importation via the nation's porous and, according to some police sources, vulnerable or corrupted border security regime. The syndicate has its origins in a "triad conglomerate" formed by formerly warring triad groups in Asia a decade ago.
It runs much like a multinational company, with operating hubs that shift with demand and supply. Australia is a significant market because of the demand for illicit drugs and the fairly high prices Australians pay for them.
The briefing says: "The pooling of resources of the main triad groups has allowed them to merge their contacts, assets and holdings, creating a well-established network of contacts across many governments as well as legitimate business and company structures.''
It has "three main heads based in south-east Asia and at least 22 other primary seats [bosses]'' around the globe. It pours billions of dollars into "high-profile internet gambling facilities, Asian hotel chains and resorts, commercial construction companies, property companies in Hong Kong and Vietnam [and] casinos''.
To move money, the syndicate uses "highly placed government officials, banking staff … [to] undercut any other overt or covert money transfer facility".
Law-enforcement officials believe members or associates of the syndicate are responsible for imports to Australia dating back more than a decade, including shipments linked to the jailed Sydney crime boss Duncan Lam Sak Cheung and a 105-kilogram heroin shipment in 2005 which led to the jailing of another Asian crime boss, Ly Vi Hung.
Other seizures linked to Dayu include a $500 million ecstasy bust in 2007 and several from Canada in 2008 totalling half a tonne of illicit drugs.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/sting-fingers-corrupt-officials-20120323-1vpb9.html
