Aust Police break crime ring dealing in PNG cannabis
Updated
Australian authorities have arrested 13 people in a drug bust in the Torres Straits, Far North Queensland. One hundred kilos of cannabis grown in the Papua New Guinea Highlands along with a number of the key players in the alleged crime ring almost escaped police. Police and the Australian Customs service only caught-up with the drug smugglers when they ran out of petrol in the Torres Strait. The authorities were alerted that a shipment of drugs was on its way when two of the drug smugglers families reported they had been missing from their homes in Daru in Papua New Guinea for two days. The Director of Enforcement Opertions for the Australian Customs Service in Queensland, John Kerlin says it's a particularly pleasing drug bust as the Torres Straits is a very difficult area to police.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: The Director Enforcement Operations, Australian Customs Service , Regional Queensland, John Kerlin.
KERLIN: Extremely significant in that more so than actually grabbing a large quantity of product what we've done is busted a bit of a syndicate that's been operating we think for some time in moving cannabis through the Torres Strait into the Torres Strait communities and beyond.
COUTTS: So this has been a regular habit in that area?
KERLIN: We believe so, some of the people that have been arrested both Queensland police and ourselves have been after for some time. It's a difficult environment to actually catch people with their hand in the till so to speak, to be able to get these people and then actually get to the bottom of it and get to the individuals who are actually responsible for organising the movement of the product has been very important.
COUTTS: And is it just cannabis, a cannabis ring?
KERLIN: Yeah it's purely cannabis.
COUTTS: And what do you know about it now, where does it originate and have you got all the parties involved in it?
KERLIN: No the operation's ongoing, there are still some other people that Queensland police in particular want to talk to. So it will continue on for another few days.
COUTTS: Now how did you go about this because it required the cooperation of the PNG police as well?
KERLIN: Not really at this stage, it started with some information that Australian Customs had received, and we were actually on the look-out for a vessel allegedly coming down. That vessel got lost and it turned into a search and rescue effort. We believe they ditched what they had but once we rescued the people and interviewed between the police and ourselves they admitted to having carried some product down.
COUTTS: So what happened? Why did they require rescuing?
KERLIN: The usual thing in the Torres Strait, they ran out of fuel.
COUTTS: So you don't really know how much of a haul they had in this particular delivery?
KERLIN: We understand from what they told us that they had four blocks of cannabis, which would be roughly 100 kilos. It would be unlikely for them to be carrying more than that in a small boat.
COUTTS: So how long has this been going on, this particular sting if you like or investigation?
KERLIN: We've been active in the Torres Strait, not just on these people but a lot of others, for many, many years. And it's a moving feast as old players move out new players move in and we try to arrest them all. This one's a fairly significant one in that there were a lot of people involved.
COUTTS: So the cannabis has been grown in PNG or has it come from somewhere else and just brought in?
KERLIN: This is PNG cannabis.
COUTTS: And do you know exactly where it's grown?
KERLIN: It would all come from the PNG Highlands. They'd be no cannabis growing in the western province of PNG, it's just not conducive to it. But a lot of the product does come down from the Highlands in Papua New Guinea.
COUTTS: So were you able to fish out all of the people involved out of the Torres Straits and have they been arrested and charged?
KERLIN: The Queensland police have charged about 13 people to date, they've interviewed quite a deal more and they will be looking to interview some others in coming days.
COUTTS: Do you think that it's going to take much longer to close this particular line of operation down?
KERLIN: No not really, I think this particular group will be pretty much closed down from now.
COUTTS: And do we know the value of the haul that either went into the Torres Strait or was recovered?
KERLIN: No I don't, cannabis doesn't carry the same value as the designer drugs, but for the Torres Strait cannabis is a bit of an evil, if it gets into the Torres Strait communities it can do the same sort of damage as MDMA or ice would do in Sydney or Melbourne. So for the Torres Strait it's significant even though by perhaps other standards it's not that great a quantity.
