Interstate drug ring smashed, police say

[WantDaChronic]

A CROSS-border crime ring that smuggled South Australian cannabis into Queensland has been smashed in raids by police on 23 properties in the two states.

 

Eight people have been arrested including a 39-year-old man from Murray Bridge, east of Adelaide, who allegedly couriered cannabis across the border in a modified fuel tank of his four-wheel-drive.

 

Police today said raids had been carried out on three properties in Queensland's southeast and 20 in South Australia in the past two days.

 

About 140 police across the two states were involved in the joint operation that begun in September and was run by the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC), and the South Australian and Queensland police forces.

 

CMC director of crime operations Chief Inspector Len Potts said police had broken a sophisticated drug network that had been transporting cannabis from a co-operative in South Australia to Queensland.

 

"It looks as though we've infiltrated a very large network of organised crime, involved in the ongoing distribution of a large amount of hydroponic cannabis," he said.

 

Chief Insp Potts said the drug had been packaged in sealed plastic bags, hidden in a modified fuel tank in a 4WD and smuggled into Queensland on a regular basis.

 

He said about 19kg of cannabis worth $450,000 and about $169,000 cash was found in the Queensland raids yesterday.

 

SA Police have seized 130 cannabis plants, hydroponics equipment, two unregistered rifles and two shotguns among other drugs and cash.

 

At an adult shop in Adelaide's northwestern suburbs, police found about 14,000 glass pipes used for smoking the methamphetamine "ice" in a storage depot.

 

Of the eight men arrested, five were from Queensland and three from South Australia.

 

All were expected to face court today on charges of drug trafficking and possession.

 

SA Police late today made five more arrests and 10 reports for drug cultivation following the raids.

 

Detective Inspector Peter Giles of the SA Drug Investigation Branch said cannabis had been grown hydroponically in 17 of the 20 houses raided in South Australia.

 

Det Insp Giles said he believed the "principle players" had been arrested.

 

"It's certainly not every day of the week or every week that within Australian we see an operation that has the success to the degree as to what's been revealed over the last two days," he said in Adelaide.

 

Insp Giles said the drug ring was not linked to an outlaw motorcycle gang or ethnic-based organised crime but he would comment if there were links to other organised crime networks.

Source: www.news.com.au

[Zaknefain]

is it just me or is ur government more focused on pot than meth an crack and coke and e?

[WantDaChronic]

is it just me or is ur government more focused on pot than meth an crack and coke and e?

yep, but only because there is a much higher rate of use for marijuana compared to those other drugs and marijuana is heaps easier to detect than the other drugs as well