Drug barons arrested and narcotics rings smashed in NSW raids

Drug raids have smashed major narcotics networks and led to the arrests of some of the nation's biggest drug barons, NSW police say. “Today we haven't taken a tentacle off the beast, we've removed a very, very big beast,” NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione told reporters. “We further allege that among those that are in custody right now are a number of major players in the Australian drugs trade, names that you will instantly recognise.” Detectives launched what was claimed to be one of the state's biggest drugs busts at first light today, with 500 cops raiding 37 premises across Sydney, on the NSW Central Coast and in Mudgee. They arrested 28 men and one woman in NSW and two people in Western Australia.

Police said they had seized 16.7kg of drugs, believed to be cocaine, 5848 tabs of LSD, 30 cannabis plants, 29kg of precursor chemicals, four firearms and 600 rounds of ammunition. The drugs have an estimated street value of $9 million. Assets worth $14 million, including aircraft, luxury cars and mansions are being examined and may also be seized. But it is the taking down of alleged drugs barons that police say is the most significant outcome. “We'll be alleging ... this is the top of the tree,” Assistant Commissioner Dave Hudson told reporters. There were measures in place to try and ensure those arrested were not simply replaced by other drug dealers, he said.

Mr Scipione said alleged criminals he started hunting 30 years ago were among those arrested. “A number of the people who were arrested today were people I started working on 30 years ago when I started working in the police force,” he said. “These people have been around a long time. These people are before the courts today, they will be well known to many of you.” The operation which led to the arrests, Strike Force Domino, began a year ago. It was so extensive it required NSW Police Minister Michael Daley to authorise a one-off , $1.7 million grant to fund it.

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Bikies and triads in waterfront drug conspiracy

One of the nation's biggest investigations into organised crime has exposed an international drug importation syndicate with links to the Comanchero bikie gang, Chinese triads and corrupt Australian officials. Operation Hoffman, a landmark multi-agency investigation led by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC), has also revealed the deep links between drug importers and rogue Australian maritime workers.

NSW Police have identified a group of drug-importing Sydney port workers with government maritime security cards who have been active since 2004. In Victoria, authorities have uncovered links between corrupt Melbourne port workers, the Hells Angels and prominent Italian criminals. Law enforcement agencies in NSW recently updated a list of 150 organised crime organisations that need targeting.

The two-year Operation Hoffman has found multimillion-dollar crime syndicates are operating like multinational enterprises, evading police by drawing on local and overseas resources and the latest technology. It has led to big ecstasy, heroin and crystal methamphetamine drug busts across Australia, the biggest drug bust in Tonga and the discovery of a bikie armoury, including automatic weapons and imitation police equipment, in May last year. Those arrested include alleged drug runners with links to the Chinese triads and the Perth president of the Comanchero, Steven Milenkovski.

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Digital drug peddlers target teens with iDoses

Spaced-out adolescents in headphones litter YouTube, some panting and others wincing as they listen to droning, pulsating soundtracks known as iDoses. They have fallen victim to an insidious new digital drug culture that preys on vulnerable young teens with money to burn. With nothing but an mp3 player and an internet account they can can legally download 'binaural' audio downloads that claim to deliver a “high” that can mimic drugs like LSD and Crystal Meth.

The prices of iDoses range from $US2.75 for a standard "heroin" track to $US199 to open up the "Gates of Hades", which promises listeners an enticing package of “Smoke and torment. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Death. Destruction”.mWhile there is little scientific evidence to back up some of the outlandish claims on iDose websites – some schools in the US have written letters to parents and banned iPods and phones to block students from accessing them. National and NSW education officials say they have not yet seen any reports of school children downloading “digital drugs” in Australia, but drug abuse experts say it is only a matter of time before the craze catches on here.

“Safe, effective, and legal alternative to recreational and prescription drugs,” is how one I-Doser website describes its wares, but drug abuse experts are not concerned so much with the content of the downloads as the drug culture they promote to young and susceptible minds. “We are seeing drug culture seep more and more into the youth market, where people can make a quick buck. That is a very sad part of this that they are targeting the group most vulnerable - the young who see this as being a cool thing to do,” said Paul Dillon, founder of Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia.

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Rape charges dropped after evidence gleaned from iPhone

A man's business and reputation are tainted, a young woman's HSC and mental health are in tatters and prosecutors have been ordered to pay more than $30,000 in legal costs for a bungled rape investigation on Sydney's northern beaches. But it could have been worse still, if not for the trove of secrets stored in one of the world's most popular mobile phones. In what may be the first time an iPhone's elephantine memory has saved someone accused of a serious crime, deleted data retrieved by a leading surveillance expert appears to have led to the dropping of five rape charges against a Sydney man. Robert*, in his 60s, was a property manager to the rich and famous and a dog breeder. Jessica* was the 18-year-old daughter of a friend, who never knew her father and dreamed of working with animals. Their friendship blossomed as they spent mornings training his prize German shepherds. He gave her a $20,000 dog. For three months, they had sex repeatedly en route to dog shows and at a Whale Beach mansion where Elle Macpherson has stayed.

In August last year she accused him of rape. It was - and remains - a case of his word against hers. Robert lost a job with the Catholic Church, from which he had earned more than $100,000 over the past three years, and was told he could no longer worship there. The only thing standing between Robert and five sentences of up to 14 years were the messages from her on his iPhone, which he had deleted to conceal the relationship. Robert's lawyer, John Gooley from Collins & Thompson solicitors, commissioned Gary Coulthart, a former covert operations policeman and ICAC surveillance expert, to plumb the depths of Robert's iPhone. Mr Coulthart retrieved more than 300 deleted texts and phone calls from the alleged victim, some of which appeared to undermine the allegations. Prosecutors later withdrew the charges and have been ordered to pay $30,056 of Robert's legal costs. ''Without the ability of Coulthart to drag the content out, a man's life may have been ruined,'' Mr Gooley said. ''[iPhone evidence is] a bit like DNA. It can work both ways.''

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Australia opens Fusion Centre targeting organized crime

Attorney General Robert McClalland has opened a new intelligence analysis centre in Canberra targeting organised crime backed by more than a billion dollars in information technology assets. The so-called Criminal Intelligence Fusion Centre within the Australian Crime Commission draws data and expertise from some of the federal government's largest IT operations, from the Australian Taxation Office, Customs and Border Protection, Centrelink, Austrac, Immigration and the Australian Federal Police.

The Fusion Centre aims to boost the ability of state and federal law enforcement to identify and analyse high-risk cash flows, patterns of crime and their links to individuals, businesses and corporate structures that may be involved in crime. Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said the social and economic cost to Australians of organised crime was about $15 billion annually. Government's Organised Crime Strategic Framework would make sure Commonwealth intelligence, policy, regulatory and law enforcement agencies were working together to prevent, disrupt, investigate and prosecute organised crime, Mr O'Connor said.

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Australia Releases Counter Terrorism White Paper

Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd yesterday released a counter terrorism white paper prepared by the Australian intelligence community. Mr Rudd said at the release, "that many home-grown terrorists were inspired by what he called international jihadist narratives, and that the threat of home-grown terrorism is now increasing. This white paper is clear: some of the threat we now face comes from the Australian-born, Australian-educated and Australian residents."

Al-Qaida-linked groups in Yemen and Sudan are the new centre of threat internationally, the policy paper says, and the risks posed by Afghanistan and Pakistan remain high. The paper says that, despite Indonesia's successes against terrorism, the Jakarta hotel attacks of last July point to an ongoing threat there. "Terrorism continues to pose a serious threat and a serious challenge to Australia's security interests. That threat is not diminishing," Mr Rudd said.

• COUNTER-TERRORISM WHITE PAPER
  Securing Australia | Protecting Our Community
  

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Billions laundered through innocent parties

Organised crime is laundering money through the bank accounts of unsuspecting third parties in a global racket known as "cuckoo smurfing", masking millions in Australia alone Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission has detailed how criminal syndicates use stooges and legitimate firms to hide illicit profits. Money monitoring agency Austrac believes crime in Australia generates up to $6.3 billion a year, but that pales against former International Monetary Fund boss Michel Camdessus's estimate that money laundering is worth up to 5 per cent of global gross domestic product, equating to a staggering $56bn here.

Cuckoo smurfing is a new laundering technique employing functionaries, or "smurfs", to deposit black money into the bank accounts of unsuspecting individuals or companies. "The term . . . has its origin in the nesting behaviour of the cuckoo bird," the CMC explained in a report on money laundering issued yesterday. "The cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. Similarly, offenders deposit their POC (proceeds of crime) into the accounts of unsuspecting and unrelated third parties. The cuckoo smurfing technique involves a legitimate financial transaction occurring . . . in one direction, and an illegitimate flow of the POC in the other direction.

• "The United Kingdom Threat Assessment odf Organised Crime", SOCA, 2009/10.
  
• "Money Laundering Methodologies", Austrac, 2008.
  
• "Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing Typologies 2004-2005", FATF, 6/10/05.
  

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Australia issues 'catastrophic' fire warning

Authorities are asking residents in some some parts of south Australia to evacuate their homes as an impending heat wave prompted the nation to issue its first "catastrophic" brush fire warning. The warning system was put in place to better alert residents after a devastating brush fire ravaged the southeastern state of Victoria in February, killing more than 170 people and destroying 2,000 homes. During that fire, many residents stayed to defend their property.

Though authorities still cannot mandate that people leave, the new warning system urges people to flee. The Code Red "Catastrophic" warning was issued for the Eastern Eyre Peninsula and West Coast districts in the state of South Australia. Such a rating means that even well-constructed and defended homes might not be safe from the blaze, the South Australian Fire Service said. In addition, three other districts -- Flinders, North West Pastoral and Lower Eyre Peninsula -- were placed under an "Extreme" watch. Such a rating means that even well-constructed and defended homes might not be safe from the blaze, the South Australian Fire Service said.

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Islamist ex-baggage handler jailed for terror book

IT was a book called Provisions on the Rules of Jihad, a passionate justification of holy war complete with a step-by-step guide to assassinations and bomb-making. Its author, former Qantas baggage cabin cleaner Belal Saadallah Khazaal, compiled the document and put it on a website with links to al-Qa'ida, in the hope of reaching a wider and more radicalised audience.

Yesterday, five years after he was charged, Khazaal was jailed for a maximum of 12 years, with a minimum sentence of nine years, by a NSW Supreme Court judge who said the crime was close to the worst category of offending. Arrested in 2004, Khazaal was charged with two offences -- making a document knowing it could assist in a terrorist act and inciting terrorism.

In September last year, he was convicted of the first offence and became only the second person convicted under Australia's tough new anti-terrorism laws. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the second count.

In her judgment yesterday, judge Megan Latham said the book, which suggested high-ranking Western politicians as assassination targets, and advocated widespread and indiscriminate loss of life, serious injury and serious property damage within the countries identified as enemies of Islam. "It beggars belief that a person of average intelligence who had devoted themselves to the study of Islam over a period of some years would fail to register the nature of the material."

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Australian police mount counter terrorism raids: Update 1

Australian intelligence and security officials are privately concerned that future terror plots might not be halted in time, a leading intelligence analyst says. Professor Ross Babbage, a former senior defence official, says the agencies involved in last week's counter-terrorism raids in and around Melbourne had done an excellent job. The raids foiled a terror plot to attack the Holsworthy Barracks in western Sydney.

But there was "deep unease" amongst intelligence and security officials there might be a future set of circumstances where something could fall between the cracks, Professor Babbage said. "That is, we can't be absolutely certain that in every situation we are going to join the dots and we are going to catch these guys early," he told ABC Radio on Monday.

Intelligence officials believed present structures made it difficult to deal effectively with emerging threats. For instance, cyber attacks against financial institutions were not the sort of threat the agencies had been structured to counter.

"Future Attacks May Not Be Prevented", Sydney Morning Herald, 8/10/09.

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Australian police mount counter terrorism raids

Australian police say they have foiled a mission by Islamic terrorists to launch a suicide shoot-out on a military base in what they say would have been the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil. Police also say they have pinpointed an Australian terrorist cell supporting and directly involved in insurgency activity in the African country of Somalia.

In seven months of surveillance and a series of raids early today, codenamed Operation Neath, approximately 400 officers from the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and NSW Police made four arrests and are questioning several other people. The four arrested are all Australian citizens, police say. They are being interviewed and several others are assisting with inquiries, a joint press release said.

Victoria Police Commissioner Simon Overland said: "I can assure the Victorian community that we are doing everything in our power to ensure the state remains one of the safest in the country.''

Mr Overland said police acted after it "got to a point where we decided it was appropriate to act" and stressed the overwhelming number of Islamic people in Australia and Melbourne were valued members of the community, not terrorists.

He said he was disappointed by leaks that lead to reporting of the raids in The Australian newspaper. The newspaper this morning reported that national security agencies had uncovered the plot by Islamic extremists to launch a suicide attack on an Australian army base.

It said the raids involved a suspected terrorist cell of Australian nationals of Somali and Lebanese backgrounds. The report said members of the group had been observed carrying out surveillance at the army base and other suspicious activity around defence bases in Victoria. Copies of the newspaper were publicly available at 1.30am in Melbourne, well ahead of the raids.

• "Four arrested as 400 police mount counter terrorism raids", Sydney Morning Herald, 8/4/09.
• "Australia arrests 'terror' suspects", Al Jazeera, 8/4/09.
  
• "Australia Launches Major Anti-Terror Operation", New York Times, 8/3/09.

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Queensland Police Identity Crime Symposium

RACV Royal Pines Resort – Gold Coast, Australia 12-14 October 2009

The Fraud and Corporate Crime Group, State Crime Operations Command, Queensland Police Service are proudly hosting the 2009 National Identity Crime Symposium at the RACV Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast from 12-14 October, 2009.

Identity crime has been extensively reported as the fastest growing crime type globally, costing the Australian economy somewhere between $1.6B and $3B per annum. Identities are now a criminal commodity and there is not a business, organisation or individual that is not potentially vulnerable to some form of exploitation.

Visit the conference web page for registration information.

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