Drug Bust on Gay Cruise

[Tom]

Australia's first ocean-going gay cruise, NaviGAYtion, has been raided by police, culminating in the arrest of four men on drug charges.

 

The cruise, which left Sydney on Friday (March 30) for a three-day trip in the Tasman Sea, was the focus of a police operation involving an undisclosed number of officers from Sydney's Marine Area Command and sniffer dogs from the NSW Police Dog Unit.

 

A statement released by NSW Police said five people were detected with drugs during the operation, in which all 1,200 passengers were searched as they boarded P&O liner the Pacific Sun.

 

Of the five people found carrying drugs, four were charged with illicit drug offences - including cannabis, GHB, LSD and speed - while one person was issued with a caution for possession of cannabis.

 

Of the four charged, one was taken into police custody at City Central Police Station - where possession and supply charges were laid - while the other three were allowed to proceed with their trip. SX understands they were issued with field court attendance notices and required to attend court at a later date.

 

While some passengers expressed dismay at the raid, and one Sydney gay website editorialised that "the cruise was always going to be targeted, after the recent high-profile operations at Azure and Mardi Gras", NSW Police were quick to counter allegations of singling out the gay community. A spokesperson for NSW Police told SX, "The raid wasn't targeting the gay community. The operation was based on risk assessment and intelligence received."

 

The drug raid on NaviGAYtion was followed on Saturday (March 31) by another police drug operation at the inaugural V Festival in Sydney's Centennial Park.

 

A statement released by NSW Police the following day said that a drug detection operation at the music festival resulted in 38 people being arrested and charged with drug offences, while a further 23 people were issued with cannabis cautions.

 

Author: Peter Hackney

Date: 4/04/2007

Source: SX

Copyright: 2007 Evolution Publishing.

 

[Jess Stone]

Being a shamless political opportunist ,I see this as a bonus,the Gay&Lesbian community certainly know how to achieve law reform through activism,homosexuality was a victimless crime punishable by gaol ,much like cannabis laws,and they achieved change,so I would say the G&L community ,being NOTORIOUS drug users(I will generalise on this as its true) need to be co-opted into MJ law reform as the G&L community still suffer uneccessary discrimination but its a vast improvement on GAOL and now they are deliberately being targeted with a dose of double-barrelled discrimination.I posted this yesterday on the topic of sniffer dog use at commercial gay parties.

[Tom]

Yeah well, how dare they be different from our upright Christian leaders? All of us that subscribe to a sub-culture of some sort should be legislated against and driven out of the country!

 

Better yet, why don't our upright Christian leaders just pack up their short-sighted morals and fuck off somewhere else?

 

[Chato]

Better yet, why don't our upright Christian leaders just pack up their short-sighted morals and fuck off somewhere else?

 

 

hahaha fuckin well said!

 

peace

c

[WantDaChronic]

i really dont see how 1200 gay men on a boat taking drugs is dangerous to the rest of society....sure you might have had the odd over dose on board the cruise, but they have medical facilities on all those types of ships so they would have been more than able to handle any drug related issues.

 

it also shows how much our leaders are anti homosexuality when they'll authorise a mission costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to bust 5 people and only 1 of which was charge with being a dealer

[67Special]

A statement released by NSW Police said five people were detected with drugs during the operation, in which all 1,200 passengers were searched as they boarded P&O liner the Pacific Sun.

 

A spokesperson for NSW Police told SX, "The raid wasn't targeting the gay community. The operation was based on risk assessment and intelligence received."

 

So it's worth invading the privacy of 1200 people, to bust 5

 

I agree wdc, there is NO RISK to the public and the cops should be forced to inform taxpayers of how much these raids cost us

 

[bongonaussie]

yeah 67..I find that pathetic..I think that works out at .24% or 1 in 240 had drugs on them.. what a waste of resources and money..