Better intelligence helped Australia seize a record amount of illicit drugs in the past year, a study showed yesterday, with big busts from Malaysia and Pakistan boosting the haul.
There were almost 70,000 seizures in the 2010-2011 financial year, according to the Australian Crime Commission’s Illicit Drug Data Report, with over 9.3 tonnes confiscated and 84,700 arrests made.
That included three hauls of heroin detected through sea cargo — two separate shipments from Malaysia of 168.5kg and 42kg and one from Pakistan weighing 25kg.
It also included a single bust of cocaine from a small yacht which accounted for 57 percent of the total weight of the drug found.
“Intelligence is the key to seizing drugs on the street and at the border,” Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said. “Ninety-six percent of drug seizures come from intelligence from law enforcement agencies before the parcel or container even arrives in Australia.”
Australian Crime Commission chief John Lawler picked up on the same theme, saying improved intelligence was helping to target organized gangs.
“The increase in seizures is a direct result of increased intelligence and information sharing between jurisdictions in Australia and with our overseas partners,” he said. “That’s the power of intelligence — the more information law enforcement has about serious organized criminals and their methods, the better chance we have of breaking down their syndicates.”
Cannabis remains the major illegal drug when it comes to seizures, with 70 percent of all arrests related to it, followed by amphetamines.
The report said steroid seizures and arrests were at their highest in the past decade, but the use of ecstasy had decreased for the first time since 1995.
Heroin accounted for 2.8 percent of seizures and cocaine 1.7 percent, while more than 700 clandestine drug laboratories were busted, most of them in residential areas, the study showed.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS