Police take down some tweak

[linusSL]

Police make ice bust
May 3, 2004

A MELBOURNE man faces several charges after more than $800,000 worth of the drug ice was allegedly found under his back car seat in a random sniffer-dog search at Tarcutta, near the New South Wales-Victorian border.

NSW Police Minister John Watkins said today the bust, in which police allegedly also found $7000 cash, showed trial drug trafficking legislation targeting road transport was paying dividends.

Police are allowed to conduct such searches within 100 kilometres of the NSW-Victorian border.

Mr Watkins said two sealed plastic bags containing 1.017kg of the drug, known as crystal methamphetamine hydrochloride, were seized by Operation Carting police when the 31-year-old man's car was stopped at Tarcutta on Saturday.

"The drugs, weighing just over a kilo in total, are worth around $813,000 on the street," he said.

"These stop-and-search powers improve our ability to catch highway drug-runners."

Almost four kilograms of cannabis and an illegal weapon were also seized after a police search of 47 cars in the far west of NSW as part of the trial.

The trial laws allow police to conduct a three-day blitz, using sniffer dogs to randomly search vehicles at three major southern NSW border crossings. Police require a Supreme Court warrant for the operation.

The Melbourne man faces four charges, including supplying and possessing a large quantity of an illegal drug, possessing goods in custody and traffic offences.

AAP

 

[Chubba75]

1kg of ice....

Damn, I think I'm going to cry

I don't like the sound of these blizt searches, especially sniffer dogs...

 

[notneo]

That's quite a bit of product but worth no where near the $800k price tag. That's also some serious jail time!

 

[wazza]

^^ I believe the (high) cost made by police might be justified by stating 'street value' i.e the TOTAL money to be made on the street by this. I.e, this guy sells the 1kg for 100K to someone, they split it and sell it for 200K eventually the end user gets it and typically it's gonna net $800K for dealers (1-5 steps I guess). That's how I see police put such a high price on it, plus I've seen it stated as this is how they do it by American police before so I'd say Australian police would do the same (at a guess)

 

[Witch Doctor]

but why would they do this? it makes it look like this guy was going to make 800K out of it.. make it seem like he had alot more drugs..

 

[apollo]

^^ Because that's the amount of untaxed money changing hands... Hence the potential damage to the economy in terms of untaxed income/black market transactions that the ice would have caused if it were sold on the street.

Stupid, but the prices are just too high to for it to be calculated any other way. Unless of course they're blatantly lying.

 

[wazza]

Plus it also looks better! $800K of drugs as opposed to say $200K of drugs is a lot better looking in headlines to the average non drug aware reader.

 

[Witch Doctor]

ehhe damage the economy..

i always thought money getting generated was a good thing.. but then again MDMA is an import, which is bad for our economy hehe

 

[linusSL]

^yeh, way to target the local businessman/ entrepenuer

 

[Chubba75]

1kg = 1000grams = 10,000 points @ $30 - $50 a point = $300,000 - $500,000.

That's at the lowest level possible, nobody would pay $80 for a point of ice.

Hmmm, I bet my calculations are wrong... need sleep (or more ice? )

 

[phase_dancer]

pure points are not the bottom of the food chain

That's at the lowest level possible, nobody would pay $80 for a point of ice

Unless of course some of those points or grams were crushed up, mixed with glucose at a 10:1 ratio, and each of those sold for......

[Edit; Removed pricing, deemed unnecessary; p_d]

 

[wazza]

1kg = 1000grams = 10,000 points @ $30 - $50 a point = $300,000 - $500,000.

That's at the lowest level possible, nobody would pay $80 for a point of ice.

Hmmm, I bet my calculations are wrong... need sleep (or more ice? )

Did you bother to read what myself and others said? It's been stated that the cost is calculated by using the *TOTAL* money changed hands. i.e dealer 1 pays (made up prices) 100K for the lot, he sells to 2-3 ppl for 200K and so on until the end user pays the end user price.. I personally have seen it stated this is the way American police calculated their pricing so I assume Australian police probably do the same.

At the end of it all, the bigger pricing makes it sound 'better' for a news item anyway.

 

[Jimity]

Hmmm?? Police at borders eh??? Well, guess that cans my trip to Melbourne.

 

[notneo]

^It's a crazy thought isn't it. Especially for all the casual bud smokers out there, seriously need to watch how much you take around with you when travelling.

I don't like the way AU is becoming!

 

[Ecaep_Dna_Evol]

For anyone one who didn't quite get it;

1kg sold for $100K

4 * 0.25kg sold for $30K each sub total (120K)TOTAL = $220K

20 * 50g sold for $7.5K each subtotal(150K) Total = $370K

100 * 10g sold for $1800 each subtotal(180K) Total = $550K

1000 * 1g sold for $200 each subtotal(200K) Total = $750K

Plus 1666 0.1g sold for $30eac subtotal(50K) Total = $800K


Breaks down something like that.

 

[apollo]

ehhe damage the economy..

i always thought money getting generated was a good thing.. but then again MDMA is an import, which is bad for our economy hehe

The money isn't being "generated", it's just changing hands. If you mean the stimulation in consumer spending drugs generate, that's irrelevant - it's not recorded because it's the black market! So we don't know how big it is anyway!

To the government it's a complete loss;
a. it's money spent that wont be recorded on our GDP, making our figures look that little bit less productive
b. on the domestic scale it's missed GST and missed income tax
c. on the international scale it's missed tariff/quota money (import tax)

It's money that if not spent on illegal drugs, would most likely be spent on other things. Like alcohol, which is great for the economy 8)

 

[aunty establishment]

^Not only alcohol, but other consumer goods, like CDs and clothes. I think one of the reasons governments are so het up about party drugs is that they really are a consumer good. That is, people buy them out of the discretionary income they would otherwise spend on other useless junk - but useless junk that boosts the nation's economy.

 

[lost_boi]

$30-50 for one point meth.
thats abit much isn't it!!!

 

[Fry-d-]

But the money is still in the economy isn't it. Its just your dealer buying all the cool clothes and new cds. Driving around in his flash bimmer.

What amuses me is the confusion and discussion that is caused here by the street value of each and every bust that makes the papers