This type of law, which has existed since the 1970s in eight of nine Australian jurisdictions1 is called deemed supply. At times, these activities can undermine the national economy (for instance, by contributing to an overvalued exchange rate). . A Gold Coast man charged with trafficking several drugs - including cocaine and MDMA - as part of an organised crime network has fronted court for the first time. Most Australian states and territories employ three different thresholdsa trafficable threshold (that distinguishes crimes of low-level trafficking versus possession for personal use), a commercial threshold and a large commercial threshold (Hughes 2010b). Web. "There has beena notable increase in OMCG members travelling to the Pacific since2016, most commonly to the Cook Islands and Fiji.". International Journal of Drug Policy, 84, 1-11. Global Crime, 21(1), 28-50. Attorney-Generals Department (AGD) 2011. Australian drug trends 2011. Concern is that without legal thresholds, there would be more opportunity for prosecutorial and sentencing abuse, leading to more adverse sentencing outcomes (such as sanctioning traffickers for simple possession or Mr Bigs with overly lenient terms). In the Declaration on the Rule of . This was necessary given all available data on which thresholds can be evaluated (patterns of use and purchasing) concerning admixtures. Drug Trafficking in the Mainland Southeast Asian Region: The Example of Vietnam's Shared Borderland with Laos - Volume 58 Issue 1 . Instead, the school's liability for any Credit: Transnational serious organised crime groups are importing illicit drugs into Australia on an industrial scale, the AFP spokesperson said. Jodie Anne Croul pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including drug trafficking . At the same time, there is an opportunity to take part in a common operational struggle against narcotics trafficking. For example, most irregular users reported consuming a median quantity of 0.25 to 0.41 grams of MDMA (approximately 1 pill) and most regular users reported consuming 0.58 to 0.73 grams (approximately 2 pills). Drug trafficking and production is on the rise in the Pacific Islands and Australia's addiction to methamphetamine and cocaine is driving the problem, a Lowy Institute report finds. Many overseas police agencies are also affected. Since 2021, more than 250kg of Afghan-produced methamphetamine, with an estimated. A recent drug arrest in Australia has links to South Africa. Crackdown operations. Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of preventable health burden in Australia. Australian police have busted a drug trafficking network, mostly cocaine, worth more than $ 1 billion, run by a group of Albanians. The results indicate that some, but not all users are at risk, with those most likely to exceed current thresholds being consumers of MDMA and residents of New South Wales and South Australia. On Thursday 16 April, police located a white Mercedes abandoned at Grange following a police pursuit. News Corp Australia. Two words showed something was wrong with the system, After centuries of Murdaugh rule in the Deep South, the family's power ends with a life sentence for murder, With Prince Andrew's sweetheart mansion rental ending, King Charles offers compromise that shocks his son, Flooding in southern Malaysia forces 40,000 people to flee homes. On 16 November, the Australian Federal Police issued an alert. A massive leak of classified government documents has exposed the identities and methods of secret agents working to stop . A report last year by the Lowy Institute found that, in the Pacific Islands, "drug trafficking has evolved significantly with the rise of local actors in transnational criminal networks". Resource Type: DPMP Bulletins, Working papers/discussion papers. He has family members who seem to live beyond their means and have significant unjustified wealth. The leak contains details of 35 Australian Federal Police operations, some ongoing, as well as surveillance reports from undercover agents, phone taps and payroll records for Colombian law enforcement officers. It is evident that the number of ways to cross the frontier illegally is growing every year. The group is allegedly linked to a Queensland accounting firm that caters to Spanish speakers, and an Australian man with links to the Bandidos, Mongols and Lone Wolf Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. . The drugs were worth an estimated $91 million. Government agencies in different states often disagree on whether to view illicit drugs as a health or criminal problem, and it is evidenced by different views on law enforcement and penalties imposed on drug offenders. Efforts to disrupt the syndicates exploitation of the student-visa stream is also a primary focus for Home Affairs, the report said. The organization deals with matters that threaten Australias national security. "In a region plagued by 'unmet development challenges', transnational crime and illicit drugs are a cross-cutting threat to development, securityand governance in the Pacific," the report said. Operation Shenzi was a joint Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and Western Australia Police Force investigation carried out in 2016, which culminated in the arrest of 14 people who were either crew members of the mother ship Mega Profit . SYDNEY (Reuters) - Dutch authorities have arrested 57-year old Canadian national Tse Chi Lop at the request of the Australia Federal Police after a long probe into drug trafficking in . Learn all out drug trafficking law here. Trafficking in a controlled drug is divided into offences based on the quantity of the drug trafficked. International Journal of Drug Policy, 67, 63-71. Drug trafficking is: A federal crime (the laws are decided by Congress and apply to the entire nation) A felony crime (involves very serious penalties or prison time) Not the same as "drug possession". The NDSHS is a representative sample of the general Australian population that is conducted every three years. Conversely, opponents of threshold quantities argue that specification of a quantity of drug as the cut off between offences can unwittingly lead to inappropriate or unjust sentencing of drug offenders. Combatting these transnational crimes requires close cooperation bilaterally, regionally and multilaterally. Secret agents targeting drug cartels in Australia exposed in data hack. In this study, the ACT work was extended to evaluate the most pertinent drug trafficking thresholdthe trafficable thresholdin six Australian states (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia) against drug user behaviour and knowledge of Australian drug markets. The table above drug categories in Australia outlines the maximum Australian drug penalties and drug trafficking in Australia penalties according to the drug quantity and type. Of particular note here are New South Wales and South Australia where users risk exceeding the thresholds for consumption or purchase of three different drugsMDMA, methamphetamine and/or cocaine. Other transactions linked to the group have funnelled millions of dollars overseas via a web of shell companies, from the sale of luxury cars, transfers from a commercial law firm and migration agent, money transfers via the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and US banks including Wells Fargo, and cash deposits under $10,000 via ATMs. The cases of several Australians potentially facing the death penalty in China for drug trafficking are centred around the southern province of Guangdong, a notorious hub for methamphetamine . The final quantities were then compared against the actual trafficable thresholds to identify for each drug and state two thingsfirst, whether most users consume less than the threshold quantity in a single continuous session of use (using median and mean estimates) and second, whether there is risk to any users of an unjustified charge/conviction; that is, whether the maximum possessed is equal to or greater than the trafficable threshold. Colombia and Peru have alternated as the top . Drug trafficking in Australia is deemed a very serious offence, one for which legislators and courts have ruled general deterrence is paramount and 'little mercy' should be shown (Clune [1989] VR 567, O'Bryan and Marks JJ, 576). Hiding skills include adapted vehicles with unique sections created to secrete contraband, elusive transportation routes, and covert arrangements with monetary organizations to wash money from illicit activities. But a new Australian report suggests that it's more prolific here than most people think, or perhaps even care to admit. The article states that the successful opening of the drug business system is a continuation of the victorious action against drug trafficking and its importation into Australia. The maximum penalties for cultivation of controlled plants are: life imprisonment for cultivating commercial quantity of controlled plants (s.303.4 Criminal Code) This paper summarises key findings from a Criminology Research Grant funded project. tailored to your instructions. Operation Geronimo: Resolving Legal Issues, Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia, Drug dog affects: Accounting for the broad social, emotional and health impacts of general drug detection dog operations in Australia, Structural and functional changes in an Australian high-level drug trafficking network after exposure to supply changes. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. For both proponents and opponents concern is twofold. The Offence of Trafficking in a Controlled Drug. "The Pacific Transnational Crime Network (PTCN) is an AFP-supported and Pacific-led transnational criminal intelligence network for Pacific law enforcement agencies, whose aim is to increase the capacity for Pacific Island law enforcement agencies to detect, investigate and disrupt transnational crime in the region. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 27(1), 1-20.. Dr Caitlin Hughes, Nicholas Cowdery AM, QC and Professor Alison Ritter, Copyright 2023 UNSW MEDICINE - National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Authorised by National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre - Were working to restore it. This is due to gaps in knowledge about the frequency of high use and purchase behaviour. Foreword | Legal threshold quantities for drug trafficking, over which possession of an illicit drug is deemed trafficking as opposed to personal use are used in most Australian states and territories. Structural and functional changes in an Australian high-level drug trafficking network after exposure to supply changes. UK nationals charged with trafficking drugs into Australia. Tuesday, May 12, 2020 - 12:00. The kingpin received $100 million in tracked international transfers in the first four months of 2019 alone. A woman has admitted to heading up a major drug trafficking network busted by police in dramatic raids in 2019. . Key points: Thomas Booker was a police officer from 2014 to 2018. Web. The specific threshold quantities employed vary by drug type, by jurisdiction and whether they are measured in terms of the pure chemical compound of a drug (pure grams) or, more commonly, in terms of pure chemical and any inert substances and fillers that are added before sale on the street (mixed grams or admixtures). What is also problematic is to grab an entire syndicate of smugglers, not just one member (OReilly et al., 2020). He said it was important "that we support initiatives back into the country to which they are being deported to ensure that they are able to integrate back into society". Police estimate the meth's street value at $1.1 billion, which reflects the higher prices that Australians pay for illicit drugs than users do in many comparable countries. Australia News. These surveys provide data on patterns of drug use (under both typical and heavy use sessions), purchasing behaviour, typical street prices and a number of other user and market characteristics. Dark web drug trafficking has been an increasingly prominent issue since the inception of the illicit drugs website, Silk Road. Such a question has particular importance for three reasons. Given this would necessitate much larger quantities in some cases (eg 29 grams of MDMA), this may well be a less potentially feasible option. This makes the cocaine market the second largest drug market after that of cannabis (valued at between $183 billion and $287 billion). The AFP has dismantled an Australian criminal network allegedly importing and manufacturing hundreds of kilograms of cocaine under the direction of a Colombian organised crime syndicate. In February, the Queensland Government and Queensland Police jointly announced a proposal to . More than five terabytes of data, including more than five million emails and tens of thousands of documents, were hacked and held in a password-protected database in August. Page Last Updated: Visa applications connected to education agencies of concern are now subject to safeguards, resulting in heightened levels of scrutiny.. That said, the maximum quantity consumed or purchased for personal use alone exceeded the trafficable quantity for most drug types. Media articles explain the problem of narcotics trafficking across the Australian border. (2023) 'High-Level Drug Trafficking in Australia'. For example, as shown in Table 3, in every state regular ecstasy users reported consuming and/or purchasing quantities for personal use that exceeded the trafficable threshold. This study was conducted at the Drug Policy Modelling Program (DPMP), which is located at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), the University of New South Wales. A key risk is that users who possess large quantities will be presumed to be trafficking and erroneously imprisoned as traffickers (Harris 2011b; Walsh 2008). Drug trafficking is one of the most crucial and dangerous parts of the illicit market. Such people often work in groups, and only the detention of all participants will reduce the level of illegal substances. For each state, the ability of the legal threshold to successfully filter out drug users from drug traffickers (ie the reasonableness of the assumption that all who exceed the trafficable threshold warrant severe charge/sanction for trafficking) was examined using two metrics of the quantity of drug a user is likely to possess for personal use alone: Metric 1: User patterns of use; that is, quantity of drugs that a user is likely to possess for a single session of personal use. Australia and New Zealand, in collaboration with their Pacific partners, had increased initiativesto combat drug production and transnational crimesbut, the report warned, a "one-size fits all" approachwould not work for the region. However, as shown in Table 3, examining the maximum quantity that an MDMA user might be reasonably expected to possess for their personal use alone, users can exceed the thresholds in two states for a typical session of use, in four states for a heavy session and in all six states for purchasing. The Illicit Drug Data Report (IDDR) by the Australian Crime Commission provides statistics view of the drug trafficking arrest and an interception. A handgun was located inside the car. 4 Drugs and Schools: Legal Issues the duty is clearly to take reasonable care to avoid harm and to take positive action to prevent injury; and the duty is not that of strict liability like WorkCover which provides automatic compensation to workers injured at work, without any negligence having to be proved. The report also found that the deportation policies of Australia, New Zealandand the United States were "exacerbating crime and addiction within Pacific nations" by returning convicted criminals back to their country of origin without rehabilitation. The report's author, Jose Sousa-Santos,saidthe street value formethamphetamine and cocaine in Australia and New Zealand was among the highestin the world. Reasons for such differences remain unknown. Maximum Penalties for a Drug Supply Charge. The study which claims to be an Australian first, is called 'The Child Next Door.' It examines the issue of child exploitation and trafficking in Queensland and looks into the way children are mistreated. They use this knowledge to find the least controlled way and efficiently deliver the required goods. Production and trade of illicit drugs invariably have a wide variety of adverse socioeconomic and political effects. (2020). There are limitations to the IDRS and EDRS. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. Due to the undercover nature and absence of provable data on this issue, it is challenging to estimate the market area of the trade with perfect correctness (Hughes et al., 2020). Nutt DJ, King LA & Phillips LD 2010. A principal challenge has been how to effectively differentiate and sanction participants in the drug tradeparticularly how to differentiate traffickers from those who consume or purchase illicit drugs for personal use alone (people whom legislators and courts have determined ought be sanctioned more leniently; MCCOC 1998b). Instances of exceeding the thresholds are also greater when examining practices of regular users, rather than irregular users, and for considering patterns of heavy use, rather than patterns of typical use. CNN . The court heard Aydin, who faced four drug trafficking charges, was part of a crime syndicate involving major northern suburbs underworld players Mohammed Osman, Rami Margus, Baset Wahab and . Drug trafficker Tony Mokbel taken to hospital. Another challenge occurs at the international level and concerns the difficulty in coordinating efforts between national customs authorities. The IDRS and EDRS are national monitoring systems that survey regular (at least monthly) drug users on an annual basis. Criminals use either legal or unofficial methods to obtain smuggling over countries. The penalties for supplying drugs increase depending on the quantity of the drug supplied and if the matter is dealt with in the District Court. Dealing and trafficking in illegal drugs (like heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis) are serious criminal offences. "When they are returned, they're returned with no cultural understanding, language skills of those countries support networks to receive them or prospects of work. (2023, February 16). It is clear that the risks of exceeding the thresholds vary considerably across drug types. However, it is also clear that the level of risk can be mitigated by better design. In Victoria, the penalty for trafficking a commercial quantity of a drug of dependence is a maximum of 25 years imprisonment and up to a $250,000 fine. This is particularly true in this case as, across all states, it is users of MDMA who are most at risk of unjustified sanctiona drug that when compared across both licit and illicit drugs has been shown to be least likely to cause crime or health and societal harm (Nutt, King & Phillips 2010). However, most customs, border, law enforcement, and policymakers agree that it results in high financial and social costs. Australia is seen as an attractive target for criminal organisations involved in maritime drug trafficking due to the high price of drugs in Australia, and high demand for drugs in Australia. Nicholas Cowdery is from the Faculty of Law, The University of New South Wales. If Australia starts moving from criminal to civil penalties for drugs, the thresholds for drug offences will need to be raised and the severity of criminal sanctions reduced. Lee, 65, is a former prison mate of Tse's suspected of being involved in drug trafficking for four decades. A kilogram of methamphetamine in Australia is priced at roughly 80 times the price of its cost in China. Vietnam has met most of the Millennium Development Goals (Australian Government 2018; United Nations Viet Nam 2017). Mr Sousa-Santos said this could be addressed by providing holistic support to integrate individuals being deported,including "drug rehabilitation, some type of vocational training, language and cultural training before going back". After reaching Vietnam, part of the drugs headed to sea from Ho Chi Minh City's Cat Lai port, bound for Manila. Second, the methods by which existing quantitative thresholds have been devised have been largely ad hoc and non-transparent. By contrast, other states show that users are at risk of exceeding the thresholds across multiple drug types. A woman has admitted to heading up a major drug trafficking network busted by police in dramatic raids in 2019. Based on the report released by the National Drug Strategy Household Survey or NDSHS, an estimated 16.4% or about 3.4 million of the total population in Australia had used an illicit drug in the previous 12 months.And it had spent 11.3 billion illicitly on substance abuse in 2020 based on the drug use trends in Australia. Australia is an effective participant in international drug trafficking organizations. Large-scale drug importation is happening via shipping containers, small and large aircraft, cargo vessels and private yachts, in some cases with the aid of corrupt law enforcement officials overseas. The AFP with drugs seized from a clandestine laboratory in July 2022.Credit: In a separate hack, the group published emails from Chiles military forces, resulting in the head of the joint chiefs of staff there, General Guillermo Paiva, resigning on September 23. The views expressed are the responsibility of the authors and not necessarily those of the Commonwealth. It is important to note that UNODC is not only a development agency although many of its programs provide development-related benefits. how these figures were setis not a calculation for which the workings are generally in the public domain, nor did some jurisdictions retain their workings out even in the private domain (Harris 2011b: 9). Some documents pertain to current AFP operations and others reveal details about past operations, including the recently revealed Ironside sting, which brought down crime networks around the world. However, drug trafficking examples can also concern prescription drugs that people tend to abuse, like Xanax, Adderall, oxycodone and Vicodin. Recognition of the lack of uniformity led to specification of the Australian Model Criminal Code of serious drug offences (MCCOC 1998b) and a single set of threshold quantities for all states and territories in Australia to adopt (set for a trafficable threshold quantity at 2 mixed grams of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine or MDMA and 250 grams of cannabis). Tonga which was previously atransit point for drugs being trafficked toAustralia and New Zealand was seeing a particularly dramatic rise in the use of illegal drugs and associated issues, the report noted. Information Publication SchemeAccess to Information, Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice. (2015). Australian drug trafficking laws: guilty until proven innocent? A massive leak of classified government documents has exposed the identities and methods of secret agents working to stop major drug importations to Australia. The cartel was sending smaller three-kilogram packages of cocaine which are hidden in products including pottery mud/make-up [and] using a crypto/cash office/s in Melbourne and Sydney to move money offshore, according to one email. . "This has contributed to rising addiction amongst locals and the emergence of a local drug network.". Australian authorities shared intelligence with their Colombian counterparts relating to the kingpins distribution of methamphetamine, MDMA and heroin trafficked into Perth via criminal networks in the Middle East and South-East Asia. The use of illicit drugshas been steadily increasing in Australia and New Zealand, even as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains,according to the report releasedon Thursday.