Australian navy makes $700m heroin bust off Tanzania

[MagickalKat777]

biased much?

That's exactly what he is. Absurdly so.

 

[poledriver]

They should have disposed of it in a more environmentally friendly way, whatever that is. Surely they could have held it a month or two until they docked? Or would the temptation be too much and they'd all start getting high?

 

[bit_pattern]

So the navy should do " whatever LEAs do"? Well, they incinerate it.

So, two questions: how do you incinerate something when your 6000 Kms and 6 months away from port? And why do you think incinerating smack and pouring it into the atmosphere is so much more ethical than pouring it into the deep ocean?

 

[bit_pattern]

biased much?

Lulwut? Biased against or for *what* exactly? Could it be that word doesn't mean what you think it does?

Shit, if we want to talk about the environmental impact of drugs then let's talk about the fact that all that MDMA you chewed through the 2000's led to mass illegal logging and the virtual extinction of the sassafras tree. Or the swathes of destruction the cocaine production industry has wrought on the Amazon.

On the scale of things, this is pretty damned minor.

And I don't say this because I reflexively support the navy, I don't, just read my posts on what the RAN is doing to asylum seekers ATM.

There is one thing though that I most definitely AM biased towards and that is critical thinking. So when somebody says something absurd, or makes the most painfully fallacious comparisons then, yes, I am going to call people out for that.

 

[bit_pattern]

And it wouldn't surprise me if some bags went along with it. It doesn't get more wasteful than that.

I originally replied to these comments from my phone (I know, ironies abound, eh?) so missed a fair chunk of what was being said. This makes me lol though. You live in CO, your waterways connect with river systems that deposit water - and anything that has been washed into the water - into the Pacific Ocean. This water, and all the refuse it collects on its way, eddy and swirls its way into the middle of the ocean where it reaches the doldrums that for the great pacific gyre, which, as a result of the activites of people exactly such as yourself, has now been renamed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - where a continent sized island of plastic refuse is choking the ocean. So, yeah, before you pass judgement on these sailors for potentially throwing a few sheets of plastic overboard, maybe start looking in your OWN backyard. Just sayin...

 

[MagickalKat777]

I originally replied to these comments from my phone (I know, ironies abound, eh?) so missed a fair chunk of what was being said. This makes me lol though. You live in CO, your waterways connect with river systems that deposit water - and anything that has been washed into the water - into the Pacific Ocean. This water, and all the refuse it collects on its way, eddy and swirls its way into the middle of the ocean where it reaches the doldrums that for the great pacific gyre, which, as a result of the activites of people exactly such as yourself, has now been renamed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - where a continent sized island of plastic refuse is choking the ocean. So, yeah, before you pass judgement on these sailors for potentially throwing a few sheets of plastic overboard, maybe start looking in your OWN backyard. Just sayin...

If you're going to sit there and launch an attack, at least know what you're talking about. The major pollution of the water that originates in Colorado is because of California and Arizona. Most of the water that originates in Colorado is diverted to California and Arizona. If you want to blame someone for the pollution, the blame falls on California - the Los Angeles area specifically.

There's a debate on where all the pollution in the different garbage patches came from in the first place. I don't see how you can even attempt to place the blame on the state that is almost right in the middle of the land mass of the country, rather than placing it on the ocean-facing polluted state of California. Or maybe you got CO and CA confused. 8(

 

[bit_pattern]

If you're going to sit there and launch an attack, at least know what you're talking about. The major pollution of the water that originates in Colorado is because of California and Arizona. Most of the water that originates in Colorado is diverted to California and Arizona. If you want to blame someone for the pollution, the blame falls on California - the Los Angeles area specifically.

There's a debate on where all the pollution in the different garbage patches came from in the first place. I don't see how you can even attempt to place the blame on the state that is almost right in the middle of the land mass of the country, rather than placing it on the ocean-facing polluted state of California. Or maybe you got CO and CA confused. 8(

Lol

Well, if you guys can go pulling long bows then why can't I pull a few of my own?

 

[MrPorter]

Fascinating discussion guys.

No but serious, ignoring the fact they're out at sea, wouldn't it make more sense to take the heroin, purify it and turn it into medical morphine or something and make use of it rather than just chucking it?

 

[bit_pattern]

Fascinating discussion guys.

No but serious, ignoring the fact they're out at sea, wouldn't it make more sense to take the heroin, purify it and turn it into medical morphine or something and make use of it rather than just chucking it?

Maybe. But where is the navy supposed to store a third of a tonne of smack for 6 months until they make port again? Those ships are big but, from what I've seen on documentaries, space is at a premium and 300kgs of anything is going to take up some room. And as good as your idea is, I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen when smack is seized on-shore. This is probably a smidgen better than the alternative, which is to incinerate it and churn toxic fumes into the atmosphere. But, let's face it, the chances of sea life dying as a result of tipping the powder into the ocean is probably as likely of the chances that incinerating it and emitting toxic fumes into the atmosphere will poison a flock of birds in the sky. The ocean is pretty big and 300kgs is pretty small in comparison.

 

[MrPorter]

'ignoring the fact they're out at sea'

sigh...

 

[poledriver]

Five charged after meth valued at $180 million found in kayaks

POLICE have charged five people in Sydney over the importation of an estimated $180 million worth of methamphetamine concealed inside kayaks sent from China.

Customs allegedly found about 183kg of the illegal drug on Wednesday last week after X-raying 27 kayaks that had entered Australia.

The tests showed 19 of the kayaks contained packages with methamphetamine inside.

Australian Federal Police on Tuesday allowed the kayaks to be delivered to a Sydney storage facility, where they arrested four Taiwanese nationals.

Three of the men, aged 21, 30 and 35, were charged with possessing a commercial quantity of drugs and the fourth, a 28-year-old woman, was charged with drug importation.

Police later arrested a 32-year-old Kensington man at his home and charged him with attempting to import the drugs.

Customs regional director Tim Fitzgerald said the 183kg of crystal meth was found in watertight areas inside the kayaks.

There were also a number of life jackets inside the boats that may have been put there to misdirect the attention of any searches, he added.

“It’s fair to say that any item coming into Australia can be used to hide narcotics,’’ he told reporters in Sydney today.

“Previously through airports, we’ve seen narcotics concealed inside surfboards.”

Mr Fitzgerald said that in the past 14 months, Customs had found more than 1000kg of meth in liquid and crystal form.

He said the drug was a “significant problem’’ for border protection authorities and a significant amount came from China.

Australian Federal Police Sydney manager Ray Johnson said people accused of drug hauls of the amount found in the kayaks could expect to face around 15 years in jail if found guilty.

The kayaks were inspected at the Sydney Container Examination Facility.

David John Alton, 32, who was charged with importing a commercial quantity of drugs, appeared before Sydney’s Central Local Court today and was refused bail.

The matter was adjourned until April 9 before the same court.

Meng-Chih Shih, 30, Zhao Xiung Huang, 35, and Chien Khih Kuo, 21, also appeared before Central Local Court today and had their bail formally refused.

Court documents show the men resided in the same Sydney CBD address.

Chieh-Wei Lin, 28, from another Sydney CBD address, also had her bail refused.

They are all due to return to court on April 9.

Immigration and Border Protection Minister Scott Morrison today congratulated Customs for preventing the methamphetamine from reaching the streets.

He said the Federal Government had provided $88 million of additional funding to Customs to increase screening of international mail, air cargo and sea cargo to stop illegal firearms and drugs getting in.

“Inspection rates of international mail and air cargo will increase by 25 and 33 per cent respectively and the examination of sea cargo in the major ports of Sydney and Melbourne will increase by nearly 20 per cent,’’ the minister said in a statement.

That would result in an additional 1500 containers being physically examined by Customs officers, he said.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...-found-in-kayaks/story-fni0xqrc-1226824341073

 

[poledriver]

POLICE have charged five people in Sydney over the importation of an estimated $180 million worth of methamphetamine concealed inside kayaks sent from China.

Customs allegedly found about 183kg of the illegal drug on Wednesday last week after X-raying 27 kayaks that had entered Australia.

A million per kilo of ice?

 

[BlueHues]

wow, a thousand dollars a gram wholesale? I can get a gram of Mexican meth for 5% of that where I live...can't be accurate...

 

[poledriver]

Mr Fitzgerald said that in the past 14 months, Customs had found more than 1000kg of meth in liquid and crystal form.

He said the drug was a “significant problem’’ for border protection authorities and a significant amount came from China.

Imagine how much has actually come in then. Meth users must be stoked.

 

[bit_pattern]

wow, a thousand dollars a gram wholesale? I can get a gram of Mexican meth for 5% of that where I live...can't be accurate...

Not wholesale, obviously, but apparently people pay up to $100 for 0.1g so that's clearly how they've calculated it.

 

[BlueHues]

Meth is one of those drugs that's better off being expensive....People tend to use whatever they buy pretty quickly.....50 dollars for .1 is what I'd charge if drugs were legal...

 

[poledriver]

I bet it's pretty cheap to make on a large scale with industrial size amounts. It probably costs a few cents per point or something. 50 bucks seems like a huge rort.

 

[JessFR]

They throw it into the ocean? I never really thought about how they disposed of it after intercepting it, can't say I ever really pictured that though.

 

[poledriver]

Yeah apparently. So they say. It's probably back on the streets tho soon lol.

 

[omnipresenthuman]

Those fish must be tweaking like a motherfucker...