RSS Feed
May 15th, 2013 
Close up of the drug ice, also known as crystal meth or methamphetamine. Picture: NSW Police
Source: Supplied
NAIVE international students are being paid as little as $200 to act as drug mules by collecting parcels of Chinese cold and flu tablets used to make speed.
Criminal gangs mail ContacNT tablets – which have a high pseudoephedrine content – to Australia where illegal drug manufacturers make large quantities of “speed” or methamphetamine.
The medication is most often mailed from China where it is made and sold cheaply and openly in shops.
In the past three years at least 25 people on current or expired visas have been busted by Australian Customs and Border Protection Service for drug importation after picking up parcels – often without having any idea what it was in them.
“Information obtained by our officers suggest jobs ‘collecting parcels” are advertised in online classifieds and other similar websites,” a Customs spokesman said.
“Exact prices paid differ, but payments can start at a few hundred dollars. A number of students have been told they are picking up ‘parcels’ and no further details are provided, however others have been found to be aware of the contents of the parcels.”
Customs has seen an emerging pattern of students, mainly from China, being told to pick up what they think is a harmless package.
” Our warning to the public is: If you don’t know what’s in a package, don’t pick it up,” the spokesman said.
“People caught collecting packages containing illegal precursor drugs risk fines and or jail time.”
Those people acting – either knowingly or naively – as drug mules are largely Chinese nationals travelling to Australia under the student visa program.
Customs said individuals are approached by crime gangs to receive the product and it is probable they are targeted for cultural reasons, or vulnerabilities such as debt.
Postal and express air courier networks are commonly used.
Customs has implemented a preventative strategy, targeting universities and international students. “In January and February 2012, Customs and Border Protection contacted 195 education institutes to seek their co-operation in raising awareness of this issue,” the spokesman said.
Operation Quadrel was established in September 2011.
Since then Customs has made 380 seizures of ContacNT, with a weight of 1477kg. There have been 28 successful prosecutions for ContacNT-related offences, resulting in sentences of up to eight years.
Source Article from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newscomauthenationndm/~3/EDfgO_Pr7D4/story01.htm
Views: 0
Posted in 
