AFP recording legitimate, court told

[grace]

AFP recording legitimate, court told

18th November 2008

By Rae Wilson

Sunshine Coast Daily Online

http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/nov/1...ate-court-told/

 

The officer investigating officer an alleged drug smuggling case told a court yesterday that he turned a tape recording off during the execution of a search warrant for legitimate reasons.

 

The Australian Federal Police officer was the key officer in the “controlled delivery” of a 1kg block of amphetamines, with a street value of more than $1 million, into the Sunshine Coast from the Netherlands.

 

The package, which was substituted with another substance, was delivered to a Sunshine Beach address with a listening device implanted.

 

Craig Anthony Wright, 32, and his father, David Geoffrey Wright, 52, are facing a committal hearing in Maroochydore Magistrates Court charged with aiding and abetting the importation of a border-controlled drug and attempting to possess a marketable quantity of the substance.

 

The court has heard that the men allegedly collected the package and took it back to Mr Wright senior’s Buderim home.

 

Police executed a search warrant at his home and allegedly found him and the substituted package in an open garage.

 

They then searched Mr Wright’s son’s home and allegedly found an additional 250g of amphetamine, 200 LSD tablets and a small quantity of cannabis.

 

Solicitor Damon Locantro asked the investigating officer if he told Mr Wright senior that police would not charge him if he co-operated with them because they were interested in “other people”.

 

The officer admitted he turned the tape on and off during the search but denied Mr Locantro’s suggestion.

 

“If someone wants to talk to me off the tape I treat them as a confidential informant,” he said. “He wanted to speak freely.”

 

The officer told the court he also turned the digital recorder on and off because the device memory only lasted about eight hours.

 

A second officer, who also testified at the hearing yesterday, said he was monitoring the listening device after the Wrights allegedly collected the package.

 

“We monitor it in real time and have a monitoring log. We record notes when we hear things,” he said.

 

“We’re always within a close vicinity of the package, within 50 metres.”

 

The officer said, if they lost contact, they would have to pack up their equipment and follow them to regain transmission from the device.

 

A scientific analyst will be among the witnesses expected to testify today when the hearing continues.