stargurl

The Straights Times, December 28, 2002

Australian police make biggest Ecstasy bust ever
SYDNEY - Australian police have seized 750,000 Ecstasy tablets, their largest seizure ever of the party drug, in a raid on a suspected international crime ring here.

The Christmas Eve raid followed a three-month investigation by federal and state police. The drugs have a street value of about A$45 million (S$45 million).

Two Australians and a Canadian arrested were believed to be part of a 'transnational crime syndicate', federal agent David Stewart said.

Police are continuing investigations in Australia and the Netherlands and hope to make further arrests, he said.

Australians Francis Ballis, 56, and Wayne Moore, 52, and Canadian Carl Hinke, 48, appeared in a Sydney court on Christmas Day, charged with drug offences under the Customs Act.

The men did not seek bail and are being held in custody for a court appearance on Jan 15. They face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted of drug trafficking.

The tablets were most likely headed for the ecstasy market in Sydney, Australia's largest city with a population of four million, said Detective Superintendent Mark Wright of the New South Wales police.

The seizure could have a 'significant impact' on the price of the drug here, he said.

Federal Justice and Customs Minister Chris Ellison said that with New Year's Eve festivities approaching, the seizure of the party drug would likely have a 'devastating effect' on the drug ring.

'Any criminal organisation dealing in the drug would feel a hit of this magnitude,' Mr Ellison said.

Supt Wright said police found the Ecstasy in the back of a van parked in the garage of an apartment in southern Sydney after a long surveillance operation. --AP

stargurl

CTV News, December 27, 2002

Australian police have detained three men, including a Canadian, following a raid that netted the country's largest-ever haul of ecstasy.

A Christmas Eve raid on a suspected international drug ring in Sydney netted about 750,000 tablets of the popular party drug with an estimated street value of $40 million Cdn.

The men - a Canadian, aged 48, and two Australians, Sydney men aged 56 and 52 - appeared in court on Christmas Day and were charged with drug offences under the Customs Act.

The suspects, whose names were not released, did not seek bail and are due to reappear in court on Jan. 15. They face a maximum life sentence if convicted of drug-trafficking.

The raid followed a three-month investigation by Australian state and federal police. A federal agent said police are continuing investigations in Australia and the Netherlands and hope to make further arrests.

Det. Supt. Mark Wright of the New South Wales state Police Special Crime Unit said the bust would have a "significant impact" on the price of ecstasy in Sydney, Australia's largest city with a population of four million.

Wright said the ecstasy was found in the back of a van parked in the garage of an apartment in southern Sydney after a long surveillance operation.

The pale pink-and-green tablets were packed inside lengths of plastic pipe in cardboard boxes.

stargurl

BBC News December 27, 2002

Australian police have seized hundreds of thousands of ecstasy tablets in the country's largest haul ever of the popular party drug.

Some 750,000 tablets with a street value of over US$25m were confiscated after a raid on a van in a Sydney suburb.

Police said that three men who were arrested near the scene were members of a "major drug trafficking syndicate", and that the operation had dealt a major blow to the ring.

The operation, carried out on Christmas Eve, was the result of a four-month long investigation carried out in conjunction with the Dutch authorities.

New Year parties

The police commissioner for New South Wales state, Ken Moroney, said the seizure would have a significant impact on the availability and price of ecstasy in Sydney.

The city, Australia's largest, has a vibrant dance club scene - and demand for ecstasy is expected to rise as partygoers prepare for New Year celebrations.

Police said they were investigating whether the drug originated in the Netherlands, a primary producer of high-quality amphetamines.

Enquiries are expected to continue in Australia and overseas, with further arrests possible, according to police.

stargurl

The Age, December 28, 2002

Ecstacy suspect a Canadian
Saturday 28 December 2002, 06:30AM

A children's author who wrote a book entitled `Oz in Canada - a biography', modelled on the Wizard of Oz, is reported to be one of three men accused of masterminding Australia's biggest import of the drug ecstasy.

The Sydney Morning Herald says he is Canadian writer and environmental activist Carl John Hinke, better known in his home country as C.J. Hinke.

The paper says he is the author of a number of published works, which are relatively unknown in Australia.

It says 48-year-old Hinke has recently been residing as a tourist at Cronulla.

He was arrested by New South Wales and Federal police on Christmas Eve together with one of two other men also accused, Wayne Robert Moore, 52, of Sylvania.

Also arrested, in Bondi Junction, was Francis Ballis, 56, of Bondi.

Police believe they have cracked an international drug smuggling ring with arrests and the seizure of a record haul of ecstasy in Sydney this week.

Police seized 250kg of the drug, with an estimated street value of more than $45 million, in Australia's largest ever ecstasy haul.

A joint task force of officers from the Australian Federal Police, NSW Police and the NSW Crime Commission conducted a four-month surveillance operation before raiding a property in Sylvania, in Sydney's south, on Christmas Eve.

The three men, alleged to be members of an international drug trafficking syndicate, were arrested in connection with the record seizure.

stargurl

South China Morning Post (subscription required), December 28, 2002

Ecstasy drug worth $200m seized in Australia

REUTERS in Sydney

Australian police made their largest-ever seizure of party drug ecstasy on Christmas Eve after finding three quarters of a million tablets worth A$45 million (about HK$200 million) in the back of a van, police said on Friday.
Three men, including a Canadian, were arrested after a raid on a property in the south of Australia's main city Sydney, where the 250kg of MDMA, or methylenedioxymethamphetamine, was found.


''The task force believes that those arrested are significant members of a major drug trafficking syndicate,'' said New South Wales state police commissioner Ken Moroney.

''This seizure of ecstasy, which is about 100kg more than the previous largest ecstasy seizure, will have a major impact on the availability of the drug in this country,'' Mr Moroney said in a statement. The arrests followed a four-month investigation, and co-operation from Dutch police.

Ecstasy is a popular drug in Sydney's dance club scene and demand is expected to rise as partygoers prepare for New Year's Eve celebrations.

HEATER

45 million dolla divided by 750000 pills=60 dollars a pill

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^^

Hah
it must be tha primo Australian Shit!

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MAC

Dj Borg

It's interesting how every story calls it "the party drug". It's like they copied off each other. There is no creativity anywhere these days, music, art, film, tv, journalism. They all seem to just do the " ctrl + c, cntr + p" with everything.

They could have called it the club drug or the rave drug or the dance drug. Or the popular young peoples drug. Or the sometimes deadly drug.

Come on people, were are trying to sell advertising space here!!!!

Get creative!

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