The Australian/NZ Drug Busts Mega-Thread Part I

[lil angel15]

Werribee man on drug charge
24th July 2007 11:05:34 AM
Denise Deason

A 34-YEAR-OLD Werribee man has been charged with trafficking in the drug, ice, following a major police operation in the western suburbs.

Acting Sergeant Brendan O’Mahoney said that when the man was arrested he had 30 grams of ice in his possession.

He was arrested along with four others - a Braybrook woman, 49, and a Braybrook man, 34, also charged with trafficking in drugs, and a Laverton woman, 22, and a Werribee woman, in her 20s, both charged with possession of drugs.

The three charged with trafficking were remanded to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court and the other two were bailed to appear at court at a later date.

Acting Sergeant O’Mahoney said the police operation, involving officers from Werribee, Footscray and Altona, had been conducted over the past five months.

Police believe the arrests will have an impact on drug distribution in the area.

Star News Group

 

[lil angel15]

Cannabis grower escapes going to jail
Posted July 24, 2007 06:00:00

A Tasmanian man found growing cannabis at his Midlands home has been given a suspended jail sentence.

The Hobart Criminal Court has been told that David Lee Coulson, 51 was growing 44 cannabis plants hydroponically when police went to his house at Tunnack in May last year.

The court heard that Coulson planned to sell the drug.

The Chief Justice, Peter Underwood, said hydroponically-grown cannabis was much more potent than cannabis grown in the bush, and Coulson's crop was potentially much more harmful.

He sentenced Coulson to four months' jail, suspending it on condition that Coulson not commit any drugs offences for two years.

ABC Online

 

[lil angel15]

Bikies a threat to witnesses: Police
24.07.2007

MORE arrests are likely over last weeks police raids on alleged bikie gang houses at Lismore, Bungawalbin and Sydney, Lismore Court was told yesterday. And police fear the alleged senior gang members they charged after last weeks raids, if released on bail, will frighten potential witnesses out of giving evidence against them.

Lismore Magistrate Nick Reimer yesterday rejected bail applications from Philip Bruce Wheatley, 47, of Lismore, and Richard Harold Monkton, 46, of Bungawalbin, after hearing impassioned speeches from prosecutor Don Sanderson and defence lawyer Ralph James. Members of the Lone Wolf bikie gang used a complex series of code words when talking about drugs that sounded like gobbledegook if you did not know what the words referred to, the court heard.

In one instance, Monkton was alleged to have been discussing deals of a run of blue ecstasy tablets when he discussed buying blue marbles for about $12.50  which Mr Sanderson said was the drugs wholesale price. However, Mr James told the court his client was a marble enthusiast who had collected tens of thousands of marbles. What was found (when police raided Monktons Bungawalbin farm) was 90,000 marbles. This man is a marble collector by hobby; hes been collecting them since age eight, Mr James said. Hes done deals with people in Sydney, New Zealand, the US and Britain on marbles. On his computer there will be evidence he has Internet contact with marble dealers across the world.

As for Wheatley, Mr James said he suffered carpal tunnel syndrome so badly he could not open a carton of milk. He certainly could not fire the loaded .357 magnum pistol found at the Lone Wolves clubhouse or bash someone. Mr Sanderson said that disability had not stopped Wheatley driving from the Gold Coast to Clunes to Lismore on the day police raided his home. Wheatleys own words in the weeks before his arrest, picked up by police phone taps, also disagreed. In one recording Wheatley had said he would flog another man. In another he said: Im that paranoid Im standing out the front with a loaded .357 magnum.

Mr James told the court neither of the men had big criminal records and Wheatleys last violence conviction had been recorded in 1991. Wheatley had been acquitted on other, more recent charges, and the DPP had dropped a 2002 charge of injuring with intent to murder, under which he was accused of shooting another man. The DPP had been ready to prosecute, Mr Sanderson said, and had found a shell in Wheatleys vehicle matching the gun used to shoot the man. However, the victim had unexpectedly pulled out at the last minute, implying he was frightened out of testifying.

Both men were remanded in custody to appear again on September 18.

Northern Star

 

[hoptis]

Energy healer to stand trial over dope crop
Article from: AAP
July 24, 2007 03:41pm

A SYDNEY court has committed a self-proclaimed energy healer to stand trial over a $2 million cannabis crop.

Gilla Mogilevsky, 53, was living in one of three adjoining northern Sydney homes where her sons were cultivating hydroponic cannabis.

Police uncovered the set-up at St Ives following a public tip-off in early 2006.

Ms Mogilevsky, who calls herself an energy healer and is a devotee of mystical Jewish movement Kabbalah, was today committed to stand trial on one charge of cultivation and one of supply.

Her lawyer Wayne Baffsky had argued that a videotape showing her cleaning plant debris from one of the homes and spraying liquid into the air had been a spiritual cleansing exercise designed to abate the actions of her sons.

But Magistrate Jayeann Carney rejected her defence and said a jury could reasonably convict the woman.

"On the defendant's conduct as videotaped ... quite comfortably, the jury could infer that she, of course, was acting in concert with her sons to cultivate cannabis," Ms Carney told Sydney's Central Local Court.

"The court is of the opinion that there's a reasonable prospect that a reasonable jury, properly instructed, would convict the defendant of both these offences."

Ms Carney continued Ms Mogilevsky's bail and ordered her to face the District Court for trial on August 3.

Ms Mogilevsky's three sons have all pleaded guilty over the crop.

The Advertiser

 

[lil angel15]

Two men charged by Strike Force Tungarra detectives, due in court today
26 July 2007

Two more men have been charged by detectives carrying out ongoing inquiries into the alleged involvement of the Lone Wolf outlaw motorcycle gang (OMCG) in illicit drug supply.

Officers from the Richmond Local Area Command arrested a 30-year-old Kurrajong man at Windsor Police Station about 5pm yesterday.

He was questioned and refused bail to appear in Blacktown Local Court today charged with:

• 4 counts of supply commercial quantity of a prohibited drug
• 9 counts of posses prohibited drug
• 4 counts of supply prohibited drug
• Deal with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime
• Participate in a criminal group

The most recent arrest was made by Gangs Squad detectives at Liverpool Police Station about 9.30am today.

The 32-year-old Mt Druitt man was refused bail to appear in Liverpool Local Court today charged with one count each of participate in a criminal group and supply a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.

The charges were laid as a result of ongoing inquiries by Strike Force Tungarra detectives, who raided premises in Sydney and Lismore last Thursday (19 July).

Last week’s warrants were executed following a 14-month investigation by Strike Force Tungarra into the alleged involvement of Lone Wolf OMCG members and associates in the ongoing supply and distribution of amphetamine (speed) and MDMA (ecstasy) in the northern rivers area.

The investigation was launched by Richmond Local Area Command’s Drug Unit, assisted by the State Crime Command Gangs Squad.

NSW Police Media Unit

 

[lil angel15]

Cash, cocaine and gold-plated guns
July 26, 2007 - 11:27AM

A major drugs racket has been smashed in an operation in which NSW police arrested the alleged kingpins and seized wo kilograms of high-grade cocaine, cars, jetskis, 17 guns and $18 million in cash.

Some of the cash was dug up from the backyard of a property raided during what police today described as one of the state's biggest ever drug busts.

But NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney admitted it won't make a big dent in the market.

"The work continues," he told reporters today. "It never ends ... it's like cutting of the tail of a lizard ... the lizard doesn't die, it just grows another tail.

"Two kilograms is not going to make a huge dent into cocaine market."

The syndicate's alleged boss, a 32-year-old West Pennant Hills man, was arrested at Wollstonecraft in Sydney's north last night and his 35-year-old wife was arrested at their home in West Pennant Hills.

The man has been charged with conspiracy to supply a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and the woman has been charged with money laundering.

Earlier last night, police arrested a 26-year-old Peakhurst man at a business at Homebush in Sydney's west.

He has been charged with conspiracy to supply a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.

All three were refused bail and are due to appear in Central Local Court today.

Mr Moroney said the operation, which began in December last year, said other assets valued at more than $3 million were seized in addition to the $18 million in cash.

The guns included a Steyr machine-gun and a gold-plated .357 Magnum pistol.

Assistant Commissioner Catherine Burn said various police agencies were involved in the operation but said it was not linked to outlaw bikie gangs.

"We've used a lot of investigative techniques to track down those involved in what we allege is this cocaine syndicate," she said.

She said investigations were continuing despite the arrest of the alleged ringleaders.

"We might have have started at the top... we might have started at the middle..." she told reporters.

AAP

The AGE

 

[hoptis]

Nationals MP's son in court on drug charges
By Nick Ralston
July 26, 2007 04:34pm

THE son of a NSW Nationals MP was one of two alleged members of the Lone Wolf bikie gang to appear in court today on illicit drug supply charges.

Brendan George, the 32-year-old son of NSW Nationals MP Thomas George, was arrested this morning by gang squad detectives in Liverpool, in Sydney's west.

Mr George, the member for Lismore and the party whip, issued a statement this afternoon confirming his son's arrest.

"It is not appropriate for me to comment on the details of the case, other than to say my whole family and I love Brendan dearly," Mr George said.

"I ask the media to respect our family's privacy until the matter is resolved.

"I also want to reiterate that as a father and a community leader, I have always and will continue to strongly oppose illegal drugs."

Brendan George appeared in Liverpool Local Court on charges of participating in a criminal group and supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.

News.com.au

 

[lil angel15]

Heads found under dad's bed
Amanda Watt
July 27, 2007 12:00am

ELABORATE production ... the underground hydroponic system that was hidden beneath Nathan Carr's house, left, and the trapdoor that led from a bedroom to the hidden area below.

HE was a highly regarded young father, working hard on the family's farming property at Moore, north-west of Brisbane.

But underneath a secret trapdoor covered by a bed in Nathan Richard Carr's house was a hydroponic drug crop, set up to feed his marijuana addiction.
He claimed he used the drug for pain relief.

Police uncovered the sophisticated cannabis production in November 2005 when they arrived at his 48ha property with a search warrant and saw tubing running underground from a large drum near the family's home.

It led to an underground 3m by 6m cement room – initially set up as an water storage area – which Carr had fitted out with an irrigation system, lights, power and airconditioning.

The set-up was cultivating 10 sprawling cannabis plants, with a total weight of 17.35kg. It was alleged the plants had been growing for six months.

He had also altered the property's meter box which allowed him to siphon off an estimated $1155 worth of electricity without Energex's knowledge.

Carr – who was supported in Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday by his wife, father and two young children – pleaded guilty to four criminal charges including drug production and fraudulently appropriating power.

He maintained he used marijuana to treat pain associated with a serious back injury sustained in 2000. He also took it to treat pain from a broken leg sustained in a farming accident in 2005.

His barrister Simon Hamlyn-Harris told the court Carr had since stopped using the drug and tendered drug screen tests from the past three years that showed he was clean.

References tendered on his behalf showed he was well regarded and a good father, the court was told.

Crown Prosecutor Michael Lehane said the Crown was not alleging there was any commercial element to the drug production and said a short term of imprisonment through to non-custodial sentencing options were within range.

Justice Ann Lyons imposed a nine-month jail term but ordered it be wholly suspended for two years. She also ordered Carr to pay for the stolen electricity.

Before the sentence was delivered, 32-year-old Carr took Justice Lyons up on her offer to address the court.

"I know what I did was wrong," Carr said.

"My family means everything to me, if I could take back what I've done I would."

Courier Mail

 

[lil angel15]

Man arrested, charged after drug operation — Campbelltown LAC
27 July 2007

Police have arrested and charged a man with multiple offences following an operation targeting street-level drug supply in and around Campbelltown, in Sydney’s south-west.

About 6pm yesterday (Thursday 26 July), officers attached to Campbelltown Local Area Command’s Drug Intelligence Response Team executed a search warrant at a house in McDuff Way at Rosemeadow.

They allegedly seized small quantities of heroin, methadone and cannabis, and a sum of cash.

A 26-year-old man was arrested at the scene and taken to Campbelltown Police Station for questioning.

He was later charged with possessing a prohibited drug (four counts) and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

He has been remanded in custody to appear in Campbelltown Local Court today.

Police are intent on disrupting drug activity in the local area and have vowed to use various investigative techniques and police resources to stamp-out such crime.

NSW Police Media Unit

 

[lil angel15]

Two arrested over nightclub drugs and firearms seizure

Adelaide police have seized drugs and firearms from a nightclub and made two arrests.

Adelaide police have arrested two people with alleged links to bikie gangs and seized drugs and firearms from a city nightclub.

Detectives from Operation Avatar have raided Club 199 on North Terrace and allegedly found a loaded revolver, rifles and dozens of ecstasy tablets.

They have arrested a 21-year-old woman at a North Terrace apartment and the nightclub's 43-year-old owner.

Acting operations inspector Denise Gray says the arrests are significant in light of recent shootings outside the now-closed Tonic nightclub in Adelaide.

"Any address where the public attends and there's loaded firearms is an obvious danger to everybody," she said.

"Given the recent events that have happened, we obviously pay considerable attention to licensed premises and act on information received."

ABC Online

 

[lil angel15]

Drugs found in man's home, car
28.07.2007

POLICE found 12 ecstasy tablets, amphetamines and utensils in a Nebo residence on March 5, the Mackay Magistrate's Court was told yesterday.
Daniel Wayne Spark, 27, engineer, of Nebo, told police he had purchased the ecstasy tablets for $50 each for his own use.

A second lot of ecstasy tablets was found along with amphetamine powder when he was stopped in his vehicle on the Peak Downs Highway at Nebo on July 24. They included two blue tablets and six red ones and he told police he had purchased them for $35 to $40 each.

He also told police he was given some white powder by the person who sold him the drugs and he thought it was amphetamines but he hadn't tried it.

Spark pleaded guilty yesterday to three drug-related charges.
Solicitor John Blayney, of Legal Aid Queensland, said Sharp's female partner had recently miscarried their child and they had just separated so he had turned to drugs to ease his personal problems.

Spark was placed on probation for 18 months.

In a separate case, Karina Amanda Bennett, a 27-year-old mother of three, pleaded guilty to 17 charges, mostly involving drugs.

The court heard she was drug-dependent and had supplied amphetamines to friends to pay debts, bills and to support her children.

The court heard one police raid resulted in used syringes and drugs and a set of scales being found on or near a baby change table Bennett used for the children.

Several supply charges resulted from police checking text messages on her mobile phone.

The court heard that Bennett recently lost her father in a fatal traffic accident. She was jailed for six months, wholly suspended immediately on condition she commits no more offences for two years. She was also ordered to pay $1700 which was the known profit she made from her drug transactions.

The Daily Mercury

 

[lil angel15]

Woman charged with drug offences
July 28, 2007 - 8:19AM

A 26-year-old woman has been charged with drug and stolen property offences after police seized $42,000 in cash and 0.5kg of cannabis in Sydney's south.

Police searched a home in Croydon Rd, Hurstville about 9.45am (AEST)on Friday and seized more than 175 items, including suspected stolen laptops,

i-pods and DVD recorders.

The woman has been charged with supplying a prohibited drug, possessing a prohibited drug and property related offences.

She was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at Hurstville Local Court on August 23

The AGE

 

[lil angel15]

Two face court over ice haul
July 28, 2007 - 3:13PM

Two men have appeared in a Sydney court charged with attempting to smuggle 16kg of the illicit drug ice into Australia hidden in two marble tables.

The men, 23-year-old Hong Kong citizen Tsz Shing Law and 25-year-old Canadian national Matthew Gar-Wei Tam, did not apply for bail, which was formally refused in Parramatta Local Court today.

Customs officers at Sydney Air Cargo discovered the drugs on July 10 after selecting for examination two packages which had arrived from Vancouver, Canada.

An x-ray of the packages aroused suspicion of a possible concealment and prompted Customs officers to drill a hole in the marble slab. They found white powder inside.

Preliminary testing of the powder indicated the presence of crystal methamphetamine (ice). The matter was referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP), which substituted the drug with a harmless substance.

The AFP monitored the delivery of the tables to a residential address in Kingsford, in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Federal agents then arrested Law at Sydney Airport as he attempted to return to Hong Kong.

Tam was arrested at the Kingsford residence as he allegedly received the packages.

The two men were charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of border controlled substance.

The maximum penalty is a fine of $825,000 and/or life imprisonment.
The AFP was yet to estimate the street value of the haul and had not yet determined the purity of the drug seized, a spokesman said.

The pair will reappear, via audio-visual link, at Central Local Court on July 31.

SMH

 

[lil angel15]

Undercover sting nets 50 ecstasy tablets - Kings Cross
28 July 2007

Police have charged a man and found 50 ecstasy pills following an undercover operation at Kings Cross last night.

The arrest followed an operation by the Kings Cross Drug Unit into the alleged supply of ecstasy in the local area.

They will allege an undercover police officer purchased the tablets during a drug deal on Bayswater Road at Kings Cross shortly before 11pm.

A short time later, plain-clothes arrested and searched a 31-year-old man.

They allegedly found a small quantity of a white powder believed to be methylamphetamine.

The man from Kensington has been charged with the possession and supply of an indictable quantity of a drugs and dealing with proceeds of crime.

He’s been granted conditional bail and will appear at the Downing Centre Local Court on Friday 17 August.

NSW Police Media Unit

 

[lil angel15]

Drug dealers' coffee line
MARIA RAE
Law reporter
July 31, 2007 12:00am

TWO drug dealers caught selling speed from a Hobart hotel room said a steady stream of customers were only friends visiting for coffee, a court has heard.

Receptionists at North Hobart's Black Buffalo hotel became suspicious when 25 people had visited the couple's room within three hours.

Police spotted another 10 people go to the room within half an hour the following day.

A drug bust found the pair red-handed in the middle of a deal when detectives gained entry to the room with a master key.

Mark Anthony Bell, 32, was sitting at a table holding two sachets of speed while Julie Anne Medley, 36, was lying on the bed.

Two other men in the room told police they had been buying drugs off the couple for some time.

They also found more than $2000 cash, a syringe, sales sheets, camera equipment and a set of scales.

Nine mobile phones that were found in the room continued to constantly ring with customers wanting to buy drugs.

Bell and Medley pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Hobart yesterday to trafficking methylamphetamine between August and October in 2005.

But Medley had told police in an interview following the bust the large number of visitors were acquaintances who had come to have coffee.

Crown prosecutor Michael Shirley said sales documents showed the pair earned about $12,600 over three months from the deals.

He said they had started dealing from their home but then moved to hotel rooms around the Hobart area.

"Both accused have been involved in a large-scale drug trafficking operation," Mr Shirley said.

Defence lawyer Kim Baumeler said her clients had used speed during the time of the dealing and had fallen on hard times financially.

She said Bell's work on fishing boats had dried up and they had been evicted from their home.

"Bell and Medley were living in the hotel room and they were trying to get together sufficient funds to get accommodation," Ms Baumeler said.

She said the trafficking was not supposed to be an ongoing enterprise.

Chief Justice Peter Underwood remanded the pair in custody until Friday for sentencing.

Mercury

 

[lil angel15]

Woman arrested 'with heroin package in her body'
July 31, 2007 - 2:15PM

A 42-year-old Cambodian woman, who allegedly had a package of heroin concealed in her body on arrival in Sydney, has been charged with heroin trafficking.

Customs and Australian Federal Police officers alleged that she swallowed a package of the drug before she arrived at Sydney International Airport on a flight from Bangkok last night.

A joint Customs-AFP statement said the women had been stopped for a baggage search, during which customs officers became suspicious that she was concealing drugs internally.

The AFP took her to a hospital and an internal examination found a package 15 centimetres long and five centimetres wide.

The total weight was 175 grams.

She was expected to face Sydney Local Central Court later today.

SMH

 

[lil angel15]

Cannabis smuggling into remote NT halted
August 1, 2007 - 7:29PM

Cannabis has been found in a car on its way to the remote Northern Territory community of Finke.

Federal government teams have already visited the town south of Alice Springs as part of Canberra's emergency intervention to stamp out child sexual abuse.

The government's reforms also include grog, porn and kava bans, prompting fears this could lead to greater dependence on drugs such as cannabis.

Acting on information from a member of the public, detectives from the Substance Abuse Intelligence Desk and members of the Drug Dog Unit set up a road block on the Stuart Highway about three kilometres south of Kulgera on Tuesday night.

About 11.30pm (CST) they pulled over a vehicle, police said.

A search revealed a bag containing 30 grams of cannabis in the air filter of the engine compartment and a further 10 grams in a jacket on the floor.

Acting Commander Michael White said their information indicated the drug had been bought in South Australia for sale in the Finke community.

A 23-year-old man has been charged with possession of a Schedule 2 drug for supply and has been bailed to appear in court at a later date.

A 24-year-old man, who was also arrested on an outstanding warrant, will be summonsed in relation to the incident, police said.

Brisbane Times

 

[lil angel15]

Police arrest five in Vic drug raids
August 2, 2007 - 6:54PM

Police have arrested and charged five people after drug raids in two Gippsland towns in Victoria.

Police raided three houses in Sale about 7.30am (AEST) and a house in Maffra at midday (AEST) Thursday, arresting three men and two women over drug-related offences, Victoria Police said.

A 37-year-old woman from Sale was charged with possession and use of cannabis and a 23-year old man from Sale was charged with multiple possession charges, including cannabis, heroin, oxycontin and hashish.

A 25-year-old female from Sale was charged with trafficking and possession of cannabis and a 32-year-old man from Maffra was charged with trafficking, cultivating and possessing cannabis.

A 38-year-old man from Maffra was charged with possession and use of cannabis.

The five people were bailed to appear at Sale Court at a date to be fixed.

Bairnsdale's Acting Superintendent Bob Hill said the raids were part of ongoing drug-targeted operations.

"A new team has been formed at the Bairnsdale Regional Response Unit with a special focus on drug operations," Supt Hill said.

"Today's arrests will impact on drug distribution in the area. The team will cover all areas of East Gippsland as required and these types of operations, focusing on the illicit drug trade will continue."

SMH

 

[hoptis]

Police find drug lab after house fire
August 2, 2007 - 1:10PM

Victorian fire fighters have allegedly discovered a drug lab after being called to put out a fire in a unit south-east of Melbourne.

The Country Fire Authority was called to the fire in the unit at Somerville, on the Mornington Peninsula, about 9.30am (AEST) today, Victoria Police said.

Police were called after fire crews discovered what appeared to be a drug lab set up in the kitchen.

The male owner of the unit and another man have been taken to Hastings police station where they are assisting detectives, police said.

A third person was taken to The Alfred hospital with burns to his hands and face, police said.

Members of the Arson squad, explosives unit and drugs squad are at the scene.

AAP

The Age

 

[lil angel15]

Woman charged with drug offences after raid
August 3, 2007 - 8:01AM

A 29-year-old woman has been charged with drug dealing offences after police allegedly seized drugs and cash in a raid on a home in Sydney's south west.

Police allegedly seized amphetamines, cannabis and cash after searching the Dickens Rd home in Ambarvale about 6.30pm (AEST) yesterday as part of an investigation into the supply of prohibited drugs in south western Sydney.

A woman, 29, has been charged with supplying prohibited drugs, supplying an indictable quantity of prohibited drugs, two counts of drug possession and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

She has been refused bail and will appear at Campbelltown Local Court today.

A man is being questioned by police and inquiries are continuing.

SMH