Hughes, C. E., Chalmers, J., & Bright, D. A. The illegal drug trade in Australia is estimated to be worth AU$11.3 billion and in New Zealand up to an estimated AU$1.86 billion per annum. For both proponents and opponents concern is twofold. Most notably, Tasmania employs considerably greater threshold quantities for all illicit drugs. 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. Australia's illegal drug trade is estimated to be worth $11.3 billion per year. Web. The cartel uses people on student visas, who receive the air cargo consignments from FedEx Colombia and then send money to Colombia. Malins, P. (2019). 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Such people often work in groups, and only the detention of all participants will reduce the level of illegal substances. This provides clear evidence that thresholds in such instances are too low relative to patterns of drug use. In conducting this work, five new metrics were developed and applied to evaluate drug trafficking threshold design, using Australian and international research evidence on drug user behaviour and drug markets. The charges relate to his operation of an online 'dark web' drug outlet called "Underline Cost.". Equally importantly, while the results support the findings from the Australian Capital Territory of thresholds posing clear risks to users, they also show how risks can be mitigated with better designnamely with thresholds that better reflect using patterns in the particular state of concern and how the wholesale adoption of the Model Criminal Code quantities across Australia would serve to increase the likelihood of a drug user being unjustly charged and/or sanctioned for trafficking (MCCOC 1998b). The question arisesto what extent is it reasonable to expect a drug user in such circumstances to prove the absence of trafficking or intent to traffic? 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, OBryan and Marks JJ, 576). StudyCorgi. 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). 16 February. Tuesday, May 12, 2020 - 12:00. They were arrested by the police from Brisbane on the charge of trafficking drugs hidden in a tube of hair dye on February 22. To calculate Metric 1, raw data on all three samples (IDRS, EDRS and NDSHS) were used. This problem requires the effective operation of border authorities, and the globalization of drug importation sets new goals for them. This is particularly true for MDMA and for users in the states of New South Wales and South Australia. In February, the Queensland Government and Queensland Police jointly announced a proposal to . "Transnational drug crime is a protracted problem, but not one that is of the Pacific's own making rather the region is a casualty of the criminal greed of organised crime and the drug appetite ofAustralia and New Zealand.". In August 2018, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) published a report that detailed some of the groups money laundering and drug trafficking activities. The first solution is to abolish the deemed supply provisionsto place the onus back on the prosecutor to prove trafficking intent (or intent for preparation for trafficking) based on evidence such as scales, multiple bags, telephone records, etc. Secret agents targeting drug cartels in Australia exposed in data hack. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. 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). A number of desirable indices such as purchases under heavy conditions were unavailable. 308 qualified specialists online. Indeed, heroin users in New South Wales can consume up to double the threshold quantity for their personal use alone. Page Last Updated: StudyCorgi. 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. According to the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), an estimated 9.0 million (43%) people aged 14 and over in Australia had illicitly used a drug at some point in their lifetime (including the non-medical use of pharmaceuticals), and an estimated 3.4 million (16.4%) had used an illicit drug in the previous 12 months. (2020). The Herald and Age have reviewed thousands of emails (most in Spanish), verified them and then destroyed all copies along with all the associated metadata, to have no access to the leaked database or any of its contents. 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. The NDSHS is a representative sample of the general Australian population that is conducted every three years. "High-Level Drug Trafficking in Australia." The report also found thatcross-border efforts to police drug trafficking hadbeenundermined bya disconnectbetween regional and national law enforcement, anddisparity in capacity across agencies,which haderoded trust and intelligence-sharing between them. 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 offshore disruption of criminal groups and infiltrating organised crime is a key part of our role and part of the solution.". A., Hughes, C. E., Bright, D. A., & Ritter, A. "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. The group claiming responsibility for the data hacking, Guacamaya, the Mayan name for macaw, said it has environmental and anti-imperialist motives. By contrast, other states show that users are at risk of exceeding the thresholds across multiple drug types. Recently, the efforts of border defenders are not sufficient to guard, so new technologies perform a valuable role (Malins, 2019). Indeed, they are 25200 times larger. 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. Drug trafficker Tony Mokbel taken to hospital. That said, the maximum quantity consumed or purchased for personal use alone exceeded the trafficable quantity for most drug types. Drug dog affects: Accounting for the broad social, emotional and health impacts of general drug detection dog operations in Australia. It is undeniable that those stocks threaten public health, changing the state economy and eventually supporting drug companies and dealers in Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, in all Australian states and territories, possession of the base-level threshold quantities triggers elevated maximum penalty ranges. This ability to react quickly to changing conditions results in the practical elusiveness of bootlegging gangs. In addition, the problem is the speedy adoption of traders to the current conditions. The logistical elasticity of criminal gangs prevents national authorities from responding quickly to problems and eliminating them. Learn about common drug offences, medicinal use of illicit drugs, drugs and driving, and workplace drug testing. They have been converted for the current analysis into mixed grams based on the median 201011 retail purity in each state for seizures 2 grams (ACC 2012). This approach also provides Australian border guards to obtain predictive data about the possible crossing of the border with drugs. Australia is strongly committed to countering people smuggling and human trafficking. Australian frontier authorities and customs patrol borders, airports, and ports on a regular. 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. Drug trafficking is the largest revenue generator globally among the variety of transnational criminal markets. Drug trafficking examples typically take the form of more illicit, or scheduled, drugs, like cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines. A number of laws are employed for sanctioning alleged drug traffickers in Australia, but most jurisdictions also have laws to sanction solely on the weight of the drug found. . A joint U.S. and Australian law enforcement operation busted an international drug ring after intercepting 2.4 tonnes of cocaine aboard a vessel off the coast of South America that had been bound . Australia News. 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". "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. First, there has yet to be any systematic assessment of the risks (and benefits) of thresholds. 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. More concerning is the proportion of affected MDMA users. Drug trafficking organisations have operated in Mexico for over 100 years. Instead, the school's liability for any Deemed supply in Australian drug trafficking laws: A justifiable legal provision? For example, according to the statistical data, Australians spent approximately $5.8 billion on methamphetamine and $470 million on heroin in 2020 (Hughes et al., 2020). 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. Moreover, in a heavy session, 80 percent of regular users in New South Wales reported consuming more than the trafficable threshold quantity (18% in Western Australia and 30% in South Australia). 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. Model Criminal Code Officers Committee (MCCOC) 1998a. This is due to gaps in knowledge about the frequency of high use and purchase behaviour. A massive leak of classified government documents has exposed the identities and methods of secret agents working to stop major drug importations to Australia. How common is illicit drug use? He said this was becauseAustralia and New Zealand were small,geographically isolated markets, which pushed up the price. Production and trade of illicit drugs invariably have a wide variety of adverse socioeconomic and political effects. Threshold quantities for Queensland were converted into mixed grams (admixtures) based on the 201011 retail purity (ACC 2012) as listed in Table 1. Hughes C & Ritter A in press. 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). Indeed, with one exception, the maximum quantities reported by cannabis users were 3.535 times under the threshold. Yet, in spite of known risks from adopting such thresholds, most notably of unjustified conviction of users as traffickers, the capacity of Australian legal thresholds to deliver proportional sanctioning has been subject to limited research. "The response by Pacific states and traditional partners must be rapid, proactiveand adaptive," the reportnoted. Thomas . The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory were excluded from this analysis for two reasonsthe prior analysis of the Australian Capital Territory (Hughes & Ritter in press) and lack of adequate data on illicit drug use and purchasing for the Northern Territory. As the country enters the current decade, it has the ambition of becoming a modern . More generally, the findings suggest that instances of users exceeding the threshold quantity identified would be much less problematic if the threshold quantity were not also linked to the deemed supply laws. It said that a man from the Gold Coast had . Many overseas police agencies are also affected. 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 - In Fiscal Year 2020, CBP seized over 42,645 pounds of cocaine, 5,222 pounds of heroin, 324,973 pounds of marijuana, 156,901 pounds of methamphetamine, and 3,967 pounds of fentanyl. Another name for this crime is drug distribution. 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. The amount of illegal drugs seized coming into Germany spiked considerably in 2019, the German government said. 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. 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). Nevertheless, this is the best available data to date and provides considerable insight into the Australian drug trafficking threshold system. There are limitations to the IDRS and EDRS. What is clear from this analysis is that, even if the system helps to convict and sanction drug traffickers, the current legal threshold system is placing Australian drug users at risk of unjustified charge or sanction. Drug trafficking is a global illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. As increasing amounts of drugs are trafficked, this creates more illicit funds which criminals will . The fentanyl . drug trafficking and terrorism. Drug checking could replace drug sniffer dogs at youth music events. It is evident that the number of ways to cross the frontier illegally is growing every year. 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. We target criminal gangs through the . On 16 November, the Australian Federal Police issued an alert. A number of laws are employed for sanctioning alleged drug traffickers in Australia, but most jurisdictions also have laws to sanction solely on the weight of the drug found. But a new Australian report suggests that it's more prolific here than most people think, or perhaps even care to admit. A recent drug arrest in Australia has links to South Africa. What is also problematic is to grab an entire syndicate of smugglers, not just one member (OReilly et al., 2020). 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. Structural and functional changes in an Australian high-level drug trafficking network after exposure to supply changes. Three United Kingdom nationals have been charged after allegedly smuggling 24 kilograms of crystal meth worth more than $28 million into . Application to the ACT setting showed that the current thresholds created risks of unjustified sanction of users as traffickers and that by virtue of their lower values, the proposed Model Criminal Code thresholds, if adopted, would pose greater risks (particularly for users of methamphetamine; Hughes & Ritter in press). For example 19 percent, 31 percent and 57 percent of regular MDMA users in Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales respectively purchased more than the current trafficable threshold quantity on their last MDMA purchase (risks in other states were much smaller3 to 6.5%). 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 majority of the drugs was . The results are complex, as there are a large number of datasets crossing different populations, patterns of drug user behaviour and jurisdictions. The kingpin received $100 million in tracked international transfers in the first four months of 2019 alone. 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 . In the Declaration on the Rule of . 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. Lawbreakers skillfully collect counterintelligence data on the operational activities of customs and frontier guards and traffic current models to determine optimal boundary crossing times. The U.S. and Australian police jointly handled the case, uncovered an international drug trafficking syndicate, and intercepted 2.4 metric tons of cocaine on a ship bound for Australia off the coast of South America, with a market value of up to 1 billion Australian dollars (approximately NT$20.6 billion). Web. It blamed the deportation policies of Australia, New Zealand and the United States for "exacerbating crime and addiction within Pacific nations". March 2, 2023. in News. "Australia and New Zealand's prolific and high-profile organised crimenetworks including outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) haveexpanded their activities offshore and into the Pacific. (2015). A woman has admitted to heading up a major drug trafficking network busted by police in dramatic raids in 2019. . In fact, prescription drugs are some of the pricier drugs out there. They have been designed to target different populationsregular injecting users, predominantly heroin (IDRS) and regular ecstasy users (EDRS). StudyCorgi, 16 Feb. 2023, studycorgi.com/high-level-drug-trafficking-in-australia/. The companies associated with the syndicate have had investments in gyms, a mechanical workshop, a halal meat product company, a used car dealership, commercial premises, residential real estate, businesses related to luxury cars, boats and heavy machinery, hairdressing, beauty treatments, massage businesses and a nightclub. For MDMA, under typical conditions, most users again reported consuming less than the thresholds. 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). The documents chart a steady flow of cocaine and other drugs from Colombian cartels and organised crime groups in Europe, Asia and the Pacific targeting Australian ports and airports, via intermediaries in places such as Africa, Hong Kong and Fiji.