JPRS ID: 9505 WORLDWIDE REPORT NARCOTICS AND DANGEROUS DRUGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: JPRS
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
• Release Decision: RIF
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 75
• Document Creation Date: November 1, 2016
• Sequence Number: 40
• Content Type: REPORTS

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2047/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000304070040-7
FOR OFF'IC[A~. USE ONLY
- JPRS L/9505
26 January 1981
~ W~rldvW~de R~ ort
p
NARCOTICS A~10 DANGEROUS DRUGS ~
- (FOUO 4/81)
e
FBIS FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SEI~VICE
_ FOR OFFTCiAL USE ONLY
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02148: CIA-RDP82-44850R000300074440-7
,
- IJOTE
JPRS publications contain information primarily from foreign
_ newspapers, periodicals an~ boolcs, but also Prom nec,~s agency
' transmissians and broadcasts. Materials from foreign-language
sources are translated; those fron English-language souLces
are transcribed or reprinted, with the origitial phrasing and
_ other characte~:istics ~~etained.
Headlines, editorial reports, and material enclosed in :~rackets
are supplied by JPRS. Pr.ocess.ir.` indicators such as [Text)
or [ExcerptJ in the tirst line oE each item, or following the
13st line of a brief, indicate ho:o rhe original in~ormation was
processed. Where nu processino indicator is given, the infor-
mation was summarized or extracted.
Unfamiliar names rendered phonetically or transliterated are
enclosed in parentheses. Words or names preceded by a ques-
tion mark and enclosed in parentheses were not clear in the
original but have been surpl.ied as appropr.iate in context.
Other unattributed parentheti_ca1 notes within the body o~ an
item originate ~vith the sotirr_e. Time:.� within items are as
given by source.
_ The contents of tnis publication in no ~~~ay zepresent the poli-
cies, views or attitudes of che U.S. Government.
,
COPYRIGHT :~1GIS AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING OW~IERSHIP OF
MATERIALS REnRODLCED HERGI~,TP~EQUIRE THAT DISSEMINATION
OF TH IS Ptf BL ICAT ION }3E RESTRICTED FOR OFF IC IAL USE ONLY.
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2047102108: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
JPRS L/9505
26 January 1.981
- WORLDWIDE REPORT
NARCOTICS AND DANGEROUS DRUGS
- (~ouo 4/81)
CONTENTS
ASIA
AUST~tAZIA
Police Want New Laws, Powers in Drug War
- (THE AGE, 21 Nov 80) ~
Heroin Profits Doom E�forts To Control Traffic
(THE AGE, 20, 21 Nov 80) 3
, Role of Economics, by Alfred McCoy
Police Corruption
Revival of Drug Syndicate in Australia Feared
- (Various sources, 19 Nov 80) 9
~
~ Melbourne Boss
~ 'THE AGF' Report
Organized ~rime Links
Street Drug Prices
Southwest Coast Vulnerable to Drug Smuggling
(Andre Malan; THE WEST AUSTRALIAN, 22 Nov 80) 17
- Wealthy Sydney Resident Linked to Drug Ring
- (THE AGE, 20 Nov 80) 18
~ Heroin Dealer Gets 8 Years in Jail for Possession
(THE COURIER-MAIL, 20 Nov 80) 20
- Australians in Thai Jails on Drug Charges Released
- (THE SYDNEY MORNING AERALII, 17 Nov 80) 21
~ -a- ~III-WW- ].38FOU0]
- COR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007102/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
a va~ vt a yviL'aL UJL' VL\Ll
` BURMA
Troops Depl.oye3 To Destroy Poppy Fields
(NEW STRAITS TIMES, 5 Dec 80) 22
~ Briefs
a Opium Poppy Destroyed 23
HONG KONG
French Official Denies Saying Hong Kong Produces Heroin
_ (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 11 Dec 80) 24
Acupuncture Said Better Than Methadone Treatment
- (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, .~2 Dec ouj 25
Reccrd Haul of Heroin Base Found Aboard PolisY~ Ship
_ (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 17 Dec 80) 26
- 'I~ao Thais, Three Locals Charged With Smuggling Heroin
(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 16 Dec 80) 27
Briefs
Drug Courier Jailed 28
- Heroin Smuggler 2g
Morphine Possession 2g
_ Drug Runner Sentenced 2g
MALAYSI~
Antinarcotics Cooperation With West Germany
_ (NE~nI STRAITS TIMES, 5 Dec: 80) 29
Briefs
Drug Dogs 30
Drug Overdose 30
- Heroin Sentenc~ 30
= Sabah Dog Unit 30
= Cannabis Burned 31
= Sentence Increased 31
Heroin Possession 31
Morphine Trial 31
Drug Sentences 31
NEW ZEALAND
Police Aided Australians in Arrest of Major Drug Figure
(Bruce Watson; THE EVENING POST, 15 Dec 80)...s 32
-b-
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02148: CIA-RDP82-44850R000300074440-7
- FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
- PAKISTAN
, Charas Intend~d for Overseas Market Selzed
(MORNIVG NEWS, 30 Dec 80) 33
Briefs
Qnium Seized at Airport 34
PHILIPPINES
Marihuana Farming Major Industry in Benguet Province
(BUSINESS TIMES, 18 Dec 80) 35
Briefs
Opium Seized From Ship 36
TAIWAN
Briefs ~
Heroin Seizure 37
THAIL.AND
_ Thailand Still Narcotics Trading Center of the World
- (BUSINESS TIMES, 9 Dec 80) 38
Popularity of Amphetamines Worries Doctors
(SIAM RAT, 25 Plov 80)...........~ 39
Opium Seized in Kamphaengphet
(TAWAN SIAM, 18 Nov 80) 40
Heroin Trafficker Arrested in Hat Yai
(TAWAN SIAM, 10 Nov SO) .............................o........ 41
_ Brief s
- Foreigners Sentenced 42
= Yasothon Na~rcotics Suppression 42
= LATIN AMERICA
AR~ENTINA.
Briefs
Drug Ring Broken 43
BOLIVIA
Briefs
Drug Control Activities 44
-c-
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02148: CIA-RDP82-44850R000300074440-7
~
~ FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
~ PANAMA
- Briefs =
_ :~ia~or Drug Arrest 45 ,
NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
BAHRAIN -
J
~ Briefs
- Narcotics Seized 46
. IRAN
_ New Law Imposes Severe P~enalties on Drug Offenders
(JAVANAN-E II~IRUZ, 1 Dec 80) 47
KUWAIT
Three-maix iiashi~h Ring Broken by Investi~ators _
(A~-QABAS, 30 Oct 80)~ 54
Suspects Arrested in Hashish Case
(AL-QABAS, 20 Nov 80)............ 56 _
Suspects Jailed for Smuggling Heroin ~
(AL-QABAS, 22 Nov 80) S7 -
Bri~efs
Narc~tics Suspect Arrested 59 -
- WEST EUROPE
AUSTRIA
Bxiefs
Drug Ring 60 =
Drug Dealers' Arrest (p -
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
Successful Therapy for Heroin Addicts ~
(Asmus Finzen; FRAN'KFURT~R ALLGEMEINE, 20 Nov 80)......~...... 61
- Drug-related Crimes Still Rising -
(FRAr:~CFiTRTER RUNDSCAAU, 18 Nov 80) 63
54r'IDEN -
Official Report Analyzes Abuser Statistics
(DAGENS NYHETER, 19 Dec 80) 64
- -d- -
-
_ FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY ~
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02148: CIA-RDP82-00850R040340070040-7
- FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
- Briefs
Psilocybin Appears on Market 66 -
- Hashish Seized in Stockholm 66
UNITED KINGDOM
Customs Seize Record Amount of Drugs in 1980
_ (Craig Seton; THE TIl~S, 31 Dec 80) 67
-
_ `
`
~
-e-
- FOR OFFICTAL USE O~II.Y
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02108: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
i
AUSTRALIA
POLICE WANT NLF1 LAWS, POWERS IN DRUG WAR
_ Melbourne THE AGE in Engllsh 21 Nov 80 p 15
[Text] One fact has emerged in the moun~ains fo transcripts from an assortment of _
- royal commissions, inqu~ries and task forces which have investigated Australia's -
dr.ug tra~`ficking in recent ,years: simply, tne police have failed. [as published] _
Drug in�?estigations have been set back by corruption, parochiaZiam, ~ ealousies ~
and incompet2nce in law enforcement a~encies. But police forces argue that they =
have not had the manpower, equipment, politica~ co~mmitment or legislation to
- fight such crime. _
y "You've got to look at the name of an informant," he says. drug problem in the _
context of 60,000 burglaries and 600 armed robberies in Victoria each year," says
- the head oi the Victorian Crime Depar~ment, Assistant Commissioner Rod Hall. [as _
publishedJ ~
- One way to ease the resources problem, Mr Hall suggests, wotild be to allow law
- enforcement agencies to invest money seized in big drug r3ids and held, sometimes
for years, pending trial.
- Instead o� gathering dust in pol�~ce safes, this money would gather interest to be .
spent on equipment. He says that in America, agencies use seized vehicles and
even aircraf t to assist other investigations.
The head Qf the Victorian drug squad, Detective Chief Inspector Goef f Bake?-, wants
legislation to protect an informant's anon}?~ity. "Obviously we try to keep infor-
mation confidential, but under present canditions if we are hard pushed--in court,
for instance--we would hav~ ta divulge tha name of an informant," he says. "We
- must be able to give guarantees to theae vital sources of infor~~.tio*_i,"
Trend
' Mr Baker would also lik~ a freer use of indemnity for some offenders (only the
Attorney-General can grant indemnities). "It's a case of Yetting little fish go -
to catch bigger ones," he says. -
Gtate poli_ce would also like legislation giving them power to arrang~ for a doctor -
~ ta search a drug suspect inte~rnally. Mr Baker. r~ays there is now a trend--begun
in America--for sellers to carry caps of heroir~ i~nside small balloons in their ~
mouths. If they see police caming they simply sw~allow the b~lloon.
- 1
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007102/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
.
~
Police also want:
'Uniform laws an~ penalties for drug offences throughout Australia. ,
- 'A permanent crime cotmmission or graud ~ury with gowers to force people involved =
in the drug trade to answer questions. In Victoria there is a push for the Royal
Commission which will investigate t~e Clark heroin syndicate to become a permanent
drug investigating body. -
~'Sp~edy fromation of a national intelligence body, the Australian Bureau of Crim- -
inal Intelligence, which would have links to agencies around the world. [as pub-
lished]
'Tighter bail conditions. ~
'The charge of possession extended to include a group of people.
'Powers of search without a warrant.
'Power to tap telephones and examine income tax returns and bank accounts. -
'More interpreters so ~~~.~ce can properly investigate ethnic groups involved in
trafficking, and moL~~ .~xpert ethnic policemen.
_ 'Improved forensic science facilities and more fulltime scientists.
The Australian Federal Police chief, Sir Colin Woods, favors a natt~nal body for =
forensic analysis ~f drug crime. In Melbourne, the antiquazed police lab~~ratory in
Spring Street has a backlog of 600 drug examinations, which has caused delays of
_ up to 12 u~onths in court hearings. _
'Drug offenders to be obliged to tell the source of dxugs f ound in their possession.
'Th~ State Government to build "safe houses" to protect witnesses in drug trials. �
- At present guarding them ties up too many off icers.
_ 'More staff and better for.ensic facilities at the Coroner's Court. Victorian
police say lack of facilities makes it impossible to estimate the number of drug- _
_ related deaths in Victoria. -
Sir Co1in Woods also wants Australian addicts to be re~istered, as in England. -
Sir Colin, formerly assistant commissioner of London's Metropoliten Police Force,
says police can often lose sight of the fact that the addict is a victim. He
says the English system is open to abuse, "but the British record in hard drugs
isn't too bad".
_ Answer
"After 40 years in Iaw enforcement I am totally alienated at punishing the inade- _
- quates who have become addicted because they have not been able to cope with our
society," Sir Colin says.
In reply to the question that some of the changes they want would infringe civil -
- liberties, senior police have stock answers: "The innpcent have nothing to fear,"
and, "The choice is these restrictions or unre~tricted, rampant organised crime."
CSO: 5300
- 2 -
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2047102108: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
AUS7.'RA.LIA
HEROIN PROFITS DOOM EFFORTS TO CONTROL TRAFFIC
- Role of Economics
Melbourne THE AGE in English 20 Nov 80 p 4
[Article by E11.fred McCoyJ
[Excerpts] For the farmers who produce its ~asic ingredient, the criminal chemists
who refine it and thE merchants who market i~, heroin is just another c ommodity.
, Like wheat, sugar or coffee, heroin has a wdrld market price that .responda to
conaumer demand, weather conditions and access to foreign markets.
Although the target of investigation by a'~ least six international po1 ice agencies9
Bangkok's heroin merchants are protected by the drug's escalating prof it marg~.ns.
A kilo of heroin brought at a mountaiii laboratory for $2C~00 is worth $4000 when it
reaches Bangkok and $8000 when sold to Austral~ar? smugglers. [as publ ished)
After sale and concealment in co~nercial cargo or personal luggage at Banglcak,
the her.oin disappears into a maze of air and seab~rne transpcrt until it em~rges
on the streets of Sydney and Melbourne. Smugglers use an enormous varie~:y oL-
- routes and methods to bring heroin shipments into Australia--light airc xaft flights
throuoh Indonesia or Papua New G~:inea, commercial cargo routed through Manila,
tourists who transit ~hrough New Zealand to conceal their trip to Bangkok, flota-
tion drops from freighters and every orifice or artifice imaginable on the ardinary
tourist.
- Australia's long, unguarded coastlines and enormous volume of passenger and cargo
_ traffic with Asian ports make intercepticm at the customs barrier, at b est a chance
happening.
While *_he ary riad smuggling techniques are almost impossible to detect, the drug
dealers and organieed crime figures behind the heroin traffic are publ ic personal--
= ities. As in Thailand, the key to their survival lies in the escalating profi_t
margins of the heroin traffic.
Landed in Sydney, a kilogram of 90 per cent pure heroi.n bringa $40,000. Adulter-
ated with icing sugar or glcose powder to a purity of only 40 per cent and split
into 60 dealers' "bags", that same kilogram fetch~s $90,000.
Packaged in SOUO "hit" packets each containing 0.2 grams of 20 per cent pure heroin,
the kilogram earns more than $300,000 in street sales.
3
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02148: CIA-RDP82-44850R000300074440-7
~
Assuming a national addict population of 40,Od0, Australia's heroic traff ic gen- _
erates $240 million a year in street sales. What happens to the profits? A. large _
percentage is, no doubt, consumed by petty street dealers in food, rent and legal
fees. -
The profits that accure to organised crime sqndicates probably merge into
Australi,s's "shadow economy" through money laundering to f inance pr~perty invest-
mQn'.s, illegal gambling, an3 lavish lifestyles. We are only now beginning Lo dis-
~ cover the extent, the power and the corrupting influence of this shadow ecenomy.
If the economics of the heroin traffic remain mysterious, its social impact is -
more obvious. Those areas of Sydney and Melbourne with high concentration of heroin.
addj_cts seem to be developing the same demi-monde of violence that accouupanies
heroin traf f ick~ng k~?erever it appears.
Heroin induces a strong state of painlessness that numbs all sensation, physical
and emotional. The ethics of "shout" and sharing, the conviviality among alcohol
or marijuana users, is completely absent from the heroin siibculture.
- Heroin use evokes no alternative moralitp, no theology, no ideology. The drug's
amoral ethos o= self-maximisation combines with its remarkable econ~mfcs to fashion _
- a universe in which the violent predator is the natural survivor.
,
Heroin's only use for the young and healthy, the bulk of Australian addicts, is its -
capacity to make time go awa~. If both heroin traff icking and long-tern youth i
unempl.oyment continue to grow, the murderous New Zealand drug syndicate, recently
lnvestigated by the Melbourne Coroner's Court, may be our first glimpse into
Australia's urban f uture.
Police Corruptior:
t4elbourne THE AGE in English 21 Nov 80 pp 1, 15
~Excerpts] A woman walking her dog along the back beach at Flinders on a su~mmer
night last year came across a group of inen standing near two four-wheel drivP
vehicles, each with a trailer and a power boat.
IG could have meant nothing; there are plenty of people who muck around with boats
on summer evenings, some of them rude, perhaps some who don't put plates on their
~railers. But the fisherman's wife may unwittingly have stumbled across that
rarely siohted bird, the sea dropper,
This is the species of drug importer who travels by small craft to a shipping lane
at a prearranged time and, at a spot marked by a buoy, takes on board a large
plastic drum or two. The drum has been dropped from the deck of a passing
frez~ hrer which has called at a South-East~ Asian port, probably in Thailand. In
it is hashish, buddha sticks, or some other form of cannabis.
Min ima 1
- Along Australia's 36,835 kilometres of coast the chances of spotting a sea dropper
are minimal, and the police know it.
4
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02108: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
Detective Chief Inspector Geoff Baker of the Victoria Police drug :;quad says: "We
know about sea drops and have mounted a number of operations in Westernport Bay,
but without success. I've heard of sophisticated deviczs that emit signals, and -
devices that surface after 24 hours in the water. There may be some fantasy about
such intelligence, but there has got to be some truth, too."
The responsibility for stopping the iruport of illicit drugs rests with the Federal
police, but the job of controlling smuggling generally is ].eft to the Customs -
Bureau.
Between Geelong and the South Australian border there are only two permanent -
- Customs officers, who work f rom Portland, They do not have a boat capable of -
takin~ them to sea and spend most of their time checking duty free cargo in the _
busy Portland port.
Westernport Bay--be].ieved by police to be a regular drop--off point for ships -
carrying illicit drugs--has only two fulltime customs o�f icers.
- Chief Inspector Joh:~ Mitchell, head of the Federal Police d~-ug untts in the south-
ern half of Australia, says: "The only thing which limits the way traff ickers bring `
- drugs into Australia is their own imagination." , -
'Che heroin importer needs both imagination and a gambler's daring. He does not
use sea draps. Because Che heroin trade is so prone to rip-offs, most heroin -
= syndicates never allow the st~bstance out of their sight. A courier is always
seen on to a plane and met as soon as he or she has cleared airport cust~oms. Fre-
- quently ~n "overseer" unknown to the courier will travel on the same flight.
_ G
Internal ~
Anor_her reason why boat drops are not used for heroin is that a tiny amount of the =
drug is worth a fortune, while cannabis products can involve tonnes. A smull packet
of heroin can be hidden in a courier's baggage, on his body--or in it. The latter
f;,rm of smuggling is hecoming more popular, and is making life even more di�ficult
ior law agencies.
An example of how the "internal" courier works was provic~ed when an Australian -
customs off icer learned what was in the baggage of a 27-year-old man flying to
Bangkok in June last year. He had a small set of scales, 48 ~ontraceptive sheaths,
one tube of petroleum jelly, one roll of dental floss, one packet of Senokot _
~ {pur~ative), one packet of Lomo~til (treatment for diarrhoea) and one packet of _
Codosomal (pa inkillers).
- When the man returneti to Australia on 31 July customs men at Perth ai.rport searched
11i~ bags and personal belongings, but found nothing. ~
Knowing what equipment had been taken out, they had him examined by a doctor.
~-rays indicated a foreign object in his stomach and police charged him with
= possessicm of a prohibited import, although they did not know what it was.
After 24 hours in custody the man admitted to police that he had swallowed three _
- lots of heroin packaged inside several layers of contraceptives. Had a pac;kage
_ burst he would have died almost irrmmedtately of an overdose.
5
�
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007102/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
~
' Ir. hospital he j.assed two oi ~he packages. The third had Lo be removed by surgery.
_ They contained a total of 41. S grams of good quality heroin, worth atzout $6500.
- The man is now ~4rving an .l~-month sentence.
In one Melbourne airport check this year a man and a woman were found to have
heroin worth abcut $30,000 hidden in their bodies. The man had a package in h~s
stemach and the woman tour packages ir~ her body cavities. The reward for taking
- such a risk, according to Joh:z Mitchel.l, is usually about $3000, plus a paid holi-
day.
In fact, airport customs ofiicers have no power to request internal examinatian of
a traveller by a doctor unless they have reasonable suspicion that he or she is
carryin~ a prohibited import.
Dogs traineci to sniff for drugs are now usad a~ capital city airports, but are
effec~ive only in searching baggage. Mr N.'itchell says there would be an outcry
if the dogs were allowed to sniff peo~le, ~oo.
rir Mitchell., li.ke other senior Australian poiice, says the answer to catching drug
- impor~ters lies not in random airport checks and attempts at coastal surveillance,
but in intelligence gathering--"the ability to pinpoint the coming and going of
the smugglers" .
But the biggest requirement for a top-level police intelligence body sharing infor-
- mation aniong the various law enforcement agencies is trust. Trust and police cor-
= rupCion do not go Cogether.
The head of the Australian Royal Commission on drugs, Mr Justice Williams, in his
f inal report submitted in March this year, said that there were numerous allegations
that police tabricsted or destroyed evidence in drug cases, engaged in trafficking
or were influencedby payment of money to turn a blind eye to criminal activities.
- One policemar. said of his own State's drug squad: "I would not tell them what time
it was, to be quite candid with you."
It i.s a simple Eact that big drug syndicates need help from the law if they are to
survive f.or long. And they have plenty of cash to buy it.
Victoria' s Assistant Conunissioner (Crime) , Mr Rod Hall, gives an example of 3ust
now much. He ::ells of two members of the now-disbanded Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
T'ney ~:~ere arresting a drug suspect when they overturned a mattress and found nearly
$2UQ,ODU in cash (some people DO keep it there).
"Where'd you get this money?" the agents asked the man.
"Wi~at money. T can't see any," came the reply.
Because the agents were "straighC" Mr Halls knows the s`.ory.
The biggest drug syndicates uncovered in Australia in Xecent years have had "con-
tacts" in law en�orcement agencies. 1he Sydney-based syndicate which murdered,
- among others, Douglas and Isobel Wilson, who were buried at Rye in April last
year, is said to have paid for information from the Cu~toms Department computer.
- 6
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007102/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
- Among Victorisn detecf.ives it is often said that part of the NSW �orce i.s corrupt.
Anott~er Victorian, a detective sergeant, says: "Over the years you decide for
yourself who is straight, you find out who your friends are. Of course the mnjority
r~f policemen up there are honest, but if I want something done in Sydney I tele-
_ phone one bloke--at home."
Indeed, Victorian police have found the Murray River a much more imposing boundary
- than a few hundred metres of water, In the Sunraysia district fam:Clies with links -
to Griffith and Sydney crime f.igures are now said to be planting almosC all of their ~
marijuana crons among the vines growing in NSW, where there is less "police ~ctiv-
ity". -
The Victoria Police force, now generally accepted as one o~ the "straightest" in
the country, is not untainted. IN SIGHT has learned that some detectives in the
- special squads at Russell Street b elieve a criminal has been receiving information
~hat only they should have. The criminal has been active for many years, but
detectives have not been able to charge him with anything but minor offences.
- This suspicion that som~body in the pol3ce building is in the pay of a criminal has ~
caused some detectives to keep qu iet ab out their work except to colleagues they are
sure of. -
The system of paying police informers also makes police forces vulnerable to cor-
ruption. Assistant Comanissioner Hall confirms the existence of "slush" funds, _
= although he dislikes the word bec ause of its connotations ~f impropriety. He _
says cne fund uses money contributed by the big banks and by the TAB to reward
informants whose tips lead to the conviction of arnued hold-up men. "We make sure
- we get value for money," Mr Hall says.
The CIB in Melbourne also runs a slush fund of its own. ~pical payments are
believed to be between $100 and $ 200, although much more has been paid on occasionse
Becaus~ of the nature of the payments--to people who insist ~n anonymity--tradi-
s:ional methods of accounting are difficult. The money for this fund comes out of -
thz public coffers.
~ Distrust among off icers and outbr eaks of police corruption are not the only
- obstacles to a united f ight again st drug syndicates and organised cr3.me. Poli-
tics comes into it, too. _
~ ~'ne setting up of an Australian bureau of criminal intelligence, a national body
desfgned to target big criminals controlling drugs and other c~i.me, has been
delayed because of what some policemen claim are "paroch~al" attitudes.
The head of the Bureau af Crimina 1 Intelligence in Melbourne, Detective Superin-
tendent Fred Silvester, says a na tional bureau is needed urgently. "Our present
- attempts to fight organised crime ate like David taking on Goliath, withou~ the
stone," he says.
_ But just wilo should be in charge of th is national intelligence body is causing
problems. Western Australia's Minister for Police and Traffic, Mr Bill Hassell,
~ -
7
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2047102108: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
says his State wtll not co-operate in setting up a Canberra-based bureau unless
it is under the soZe control of the recently formed Australian Police Minieters`
_ Council.
- "Law enforcement, whether concerned with Federal or State law, remai~ns a matter
for State police forces under the concept of our Federal system of responsibili-
ties," Mr Hassell says. "We will not co-operate if the Federal Police seek to
_ use the bureau to establish an FBI-type agency in Australia."
But the suggestion that the police Ministers should 3ointly control such an agency
is c ertain to be re~ected on the grounds of "political interference" by the chief
comm issioners of police. They recommen~ed the establishment of a national crime
- intelligence unit at a conference in Hobart late las*_ year, and want to control it
themselves .
There are 74 policemen in the Victorian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, but the
bureau has to provide surveillance for all the other sections of the force that
- want suspected criminals watched. In an~ week senior officers will agree on about
~ 40 " targe[s" to be kept under surveillance, but the Victorian BCI can usually
cope with only f our of those targets, meaning that 36 people who should be watched
are nat.
Mr Silve~ter says he has no doubt that the Victoria Market and mari~uana are
"closely allied". He says "it probably controls the mari~uana market in Victoria".
He adds that he has "a gut feeling" that there are one or two marijuana growing
- operations in Victoria on the scale of Griffith.
CSU : 'S300
_ 8
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2047102108: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
AUSTRALIA
REVIVAL OF DAi1G SYNDICATE IN AUSTRALIA FEARED
Melbourne Boss
Brisbane THE COURIER-MAIL in English 19 Nov 80 p 21
- [Text] Detectives i.n Australia and New Zealand believe the "Mr Asia" international
drug syndicate is op~rating again in Melboume and Sydney.
The drug ring, which was thought to Yaave been broken by police af ter a series of
murders in Australia and overseas, is believed to have been re-formed.
Detectives believe the new boss of the international drug syndicate is a New
Zeland property speculator based in Melbourne. The businessimn, about 34, has a
conviction in New Zealand f or supplying heroin.
The property speculator was once the Melbourne "half" of the "Sydney-Melbourne
connection"--the key heroin distributors for the multi-million dollar drug ring.
The man, who has property interests in Queensland, travels regularly to Sydney
and Queensland.
_ The syndicate was believed to have been destroyed after a group was arrested in
England on a murder charge last year.
Terrence John Clarke, one of the syndicate's tycoons, was among those arrested
over the murder of "Mr Asia," Christopher M~.rtin Johnstone.
The body of Johnstone, about 35, was foumd in a quarry near Chorley, England,
on October 16 last year.
Clarke is wanted for questioni~ng in Melbourne about the murders of Isabel and
Douglas Wilson whose bodies were found in a shallow grave at Rye on May 18, last
- year. They were murdered after syndicate chiefs discovered they had been talking
to police.
Detectives warned earlier this year that the heroin trade was too ~rofitable for
the syndicate to fold completely.
New Zealand and Australian police said yesterday it appeared the syndicate was
operating again.
9
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007102/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
"The same old fa~:es are beginning to turn up," a New Zealand policeman said yester-
day.
"The quest:ton is not whether it has re-started but whether it ever really stopped,"
- a fede~al detective said. "It's like a cancer growing larger and larger>'"
Police said the drug ri~g was responsible for importing millions of dollars worth
of 'Zeroin into Australia. Police believe a big stock of the drug still is hidden
_ in Sydney.
Detectives said yesterday the property investor in Melbourne could be working in
partnership with Sydney businessmen.
- The New Zealand man, who is believed to have been involved in the drug underworld
since he has been in Melbourne, is said to be wealthy.
' THE AGE' Report
r[elbourne THE AGE in English 19 Nov 80 p 1
[Text] The heroin business is the most lucrative trade in the world. Royal Com-
missioner Mr Justice Woodward said recently: "To refer to heroin as being 'worth
its weight in gold' is certainly to downgrade heroin and to upgrade gold."
An INSIGHT invest~igation into the drug trade in Australia has revealed that:
One Melbourne drug ring has been making up to $30,000 a day selling heroin it has
either imported direct from South-East Asia or bought from a Sydney network.
An "o1.d school tie" set in the eastern suburbs is d3.stributing drugs with impunity.
Much of the heroin entering Australia is being smuggled inside the bodies of cour-
- iers. The~ put the drug inside contraceptive shealths,swallow them and walk
= through customs at capital city airports.
There is no 'Mr Big' in the drug trade~ A number of large syndicates operate vir-
tually independently.
- Pol.itical jealousies ar~ threatening the proposed national body to attack organised
crime, the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence.
- The distrust by Melbourne police of their ~ydney colleagues has caused a breakdown
_ of working relationships in the drug field.
The INSIG}!T investigation also confirms what senibr police have known for a long
time...that the intern�tional drugs syndicate, run by Terrence John Clark and
involving up to 100 people, has not been broken.
- Iri fact, while Clark and others await trial in England over the murder of "Mr
_ Asia", Nfartin Johnstone, a small group of fellow New Zealanders has taken over the
syndicate.
10
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007102/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
- At least three men made plans to keep the syndicate going at a series of ineetings
- in the Sydney suburb of Mosman in January this year.
A report that Clark has been running tiie syndicate from his ~ail cell since his -
axrest in ~;ngland in October last year was described last n~ght by a rel.~.elale police -
source as "highly unlikely". -
Royal Comnissi~n ,
� And the head of the Victorian Crime 'Department, Assistant Commissioner Mr Rod Hall
last night criricised a report in yesterday's HERALU quoting him about the syndi-
cate.
"T was telephoned about an airy-fairy story from New Zealand and all I said was
that it could well be true," Mr. Hall said. "A Royal Cou~ission will be held
iiito the syndicate and I dun't want to pre-empt it." _
~ '
_ TNSIGHT's inquiries show that one of the self-appointed new heads of the Clark
syndicate is a 29-year-old Brightan "investor" who worked in Melbourne for the .
syndicate until Clark was arrested--soon after Martin Johnstone's body was recovered
frum the water-filed quarry in Lancashire on 14 October last year. [as published]
The "invastor" divides nis time between his luxurious, two-storey Brighton home
, and land he owns off !he ~ueensland coast. ~
At least two other ~Vew Zealanders attended the Sydney meetings. One, a 26-year-
old man, has sincF been arrested for possession of heroin. The other, a 30-year-
oi.d, is said to '~e the "heavy" of the group.
The Brigh~~n :nan was released from ~ail in New Zealand in rebruary 1978 after
serving 14 months of a two-year sentence for selling heroin to an undercover
policeman.
fie arrived in Australia in April 1978. Within three. months, heroin supplied by
the Brighton man was ~eing distributed and sold. One of the pedlars was a traf-
fic.ker arrested recently in Thailand. [as publishedJ
a~ The value of the heroin distributed through this channel was about $1 million.
- "Mr. North"
~ A close associate of the Brighton man has been referred to in New Zealand papers ~
as "Mr North", a large-scale heroin and marijuana trafficker. "Mr North" lef t
New Zealand hurriedly in 1978. After arriving in Australia, he set up a large
number of companies and established close links with the direc~ors ~f an apparently
~ 2egitimaCe A~erican-based franchise �irm.
State and Federal police who have investigated the Brighton man have been unable
to gather enough evidence to charge him. The Brighton home of the new head of
the Clark syndicate is saic! to be equipped with the latest in counter-surveillance
gear. ~
11
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02148: CIA-RDP82-00850R040340070040-7
There is no doubt it is nee~led. The Clark syndicate has been under close scrutiny
_ since the bodiea of couriers Douglas and Isobel Wilson were discovered in a shallow
- grave at Rye on ~8 May last year.
In Auguat, the Melbourne C~roner, Mr Kevin Mason, issued a warrant for Clark's -
_ zrrest over the Wilson murders. His trial over Johnstone's murder is due to atart
in January ,
Tt-~e Clark syndicat~ is said to have imported $96 million worth of heroin into
Australia in one year.
- Organized Crime Links =
- Melbourrie THE AGE in English 19 Nov 80 pp 4-S
(Exce-rpts~ ~rtln Johnstone set out to drive from Leyland, in Lancashire, to
Scotland on the evening of 9 October last year. He had flown to London from -
Singapore two days earl ier and was on his way to Glasgow to conclude a big drug
deal.
_ Johns tone, a tall good-looking New Zealander, relaxed in the passenger seat of a
_ brown Jaguar driven by a long-time accomplice in the drug trade. A third man, a
Scot, sat in the back, -
From L eyland, the three drove until they were north of Lancaster on the A6 road. -
- The driver then asked Johnstone to take a turn at the wheel and pulled to the side
�t the road. ~.s Jotmstone opened the door to walk around and swap pla.ces, a
- .38 b ullet hit him in the head from point blank range. He buckled to the road and ~
a second shot was fired into his head. -
- Twelve people have been sent for trial in Lancaster on various charges, including
murder, conspiracy to murder and drugs offences. One of those accused over
Johnstone'S murder is Alexander James Sinclair, formerly named Terrence Clark, the
alleged leader of the dru~ rin~. The trial is due to begin in January. ~
In August t~~is year, the body of a man involved wit~h another drug ring was found
near I,ilydale airfield. John Desmond Goiu~n, an addict pusher, died of shotgun
blasts, police had hoped to use Gordon as a witness in a trial.
_ These and several other drug-related killings are evidence that this sordid, violent
trade is booming. Senior Aus~ralian police admit they are not equipped to fight it.
Even ttiQ Clark syndicate has not been broken completely.
_ Clea rly, some groups now operating in Melboume are making small fortunes from the
wor].d's most lucrative trade. One operation which INSIGHT has learned of, has
earned a Melbourne Itfllian family as much as $30,000 a day from importing heroin, -
althou gh their methods appear to be little more skillful than Clark's.
'I~o brothers, one in his early thirties, the other in his late twenties, have been -
buying heroin from Sydney and also importing their own supplies by courier from
Malaysia, At one stage, they were distributing as many as 600 capsules of heroin a
day in Mel.bourne, at $50 a cap.
12 -
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007102/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
- The brothers use addicts to push the drug, "paying" them one capsule for each four
they sell on the streets. But frequentlj~ the family has~ieen "ripped off" by ,
puahers who have beer. allowed to pay for "caps" after they have ao.ld them. The
brothers, who carry guns, have afte:i h.~d to extracC their money by using violence,
or the threat of it. _
~ C?ne Melbourne ring is made up almost entirely of old boys of put~lic schools, inclu-
ding Melbourne Grammar, Carey, Sc~tch College, 7Cavier and Geelong Grammar. There
are about 20 in the group, most of f.hem in their early thirties.
The group deals in marijuana, nashish and cocaine. 'I'hey consider these drugs to
be no more harmful than alcohol or cigarettes, but they refuse to deal in hexoin ~
_ "for woral reasons". The group is a loose arrangement between friends, most of whom
- operate individually or in pairs. Last year they made a total pY�ofit of about
$500,000, tax-free financial icing on their normal incomes. _
= Demand is well ahead of supply. A girlfriend of a member of the group told _
INSIGHT: "Lots o� people like to have a joint next to each place setting at their
dinner parties. Not every guest will smoke, but it's a sign of style. Snorting -
coke (cocaine) is the rage, but it's not always easy to get, and its not cheap. -
- [as published) A line (one snort) costs between $8 and $12, and a user may take
five in an evening." A gram of cocaine provides up to 20 snorts.
Federal and State police admit that they have put little effort into investigating '
cocaine trafficking. "We know it's growing, but we have more than enough on our
- hands with heroin," said one dru~ squad officer.
Police believe the wholesale vegetable and fish markets at Footscray and the
Victoria Market are distribution points for Australian-grown marijuana. Cocaine -
comes i~to the county in various ways, as do hashish. Sometimes it is impoxted
inside fu:T iture. '
The group has many ways of c!istributing drugs. ~ao members put the drugs they sell.
into a second-hand car they t;ave bought cheaply, not having transferred the regis- -
- tration papers. A buyer telephones and asks for a few "elbows" (pounds) of "heads"
(good quality marijuana) and is told where the car is parked in some suburban -
street. It has to be someone who is known personally or who has been given a
= reference by someone else in the group.
_ The idea of the car is to never have drugs on their premises or at the~r homes. .
Aftur a week or 10 days, the car is moved, washed and put in another suburban
street.
The safety of the system is that it is a closed market because of the schocl
backgrounds of the sellers and buyers. Some of the bigger boys of the drug trade
have let it be known that they would like the group to distribute for tt?em and to
get into heroin, but the approaches have been rejected.
The old-school-tie set bears a remarkable resemblance to a Sydney gr'oup called the
Windsor Castle set. It was made up of trendy, well-educated friende: wno drank
- at the Windsor Castle Hotel in Paddington in the early Seventies.
13
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007102/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
- -
" '~h~ Windsor Castle seC cruised along gaily, and profitably, until the "heavies"
decided they wer^. on to a g~~od thing. A bunch of serious, violent criminals
- know~n as the Double Bay Mob too~c them over.
'I'h~ trendies left the busi.ne~s~ the Double Bay Mob prc~apered, and still does. One
of Che organlsatLons the mob overeaw and profited from was that run bq Clark and ~
Martin Jo:~nston~. Sa far, none of the ol.d-school-tie set has been "heavied" -
tr way the Windsar Castle set wa~. But then, Melbaurne is always a bit behind
Sydney. -
And Melbourne certainly has its own "heavies". These are the violent criminals ~
who stand over peuple for money (often other criminals) aad who dispense under-
world justice. 'I`hey a~-e usually i~a the employ of someone with a criminal brain,
if n~t bra~m, wh~ ~he media loves to label "Mr Big". -
Ir: rlugust 1979, .Gnspector Peter Lamb of thP Commonwealth police told the inquiry -
headed by Mr Justi.ce Sdill~ams that the results of "Operation Gaslight", a special
_ i.nvestigation :in~~ ar~;anised cri~ne and drugs, indicated that "there does not appear
_ to be a'Mr Big' of. crime in Australia." I~Ir Justice Willia~s replied that there _
are "plenty of Mr Big Enoughs".
~ Many of thc~se Taho � il: this bi]_]. are Sydney-based, but most of them have strong
' lir.ks to Mt:l.hourne crime, _
INSIGHT t~as learned t}~:~t onc~ of r.he main crime groups in Melbourne has close con- -
nections witn s.�,yd.n~y Sp bookmalcer who has ties to several Mafia figures in -
America. ~
_ A key figure in t:he p,roup i5 a Greek man called Peter who is deeply involved in
- illegal bookmakirig. Illegal gambling and drugs frequently go hand in hand. SP -
bookma'.;ing can pro-~-id~ the cash to finance a drug syndicate in its initial stages
anci later is a way o� laundering some of the vast revenue from the narcotic trade.
- 1`he Melbouri~e S~ :Peter ~ias dealings with Melbournes foremost heavy, a man named
_ Charlie. Charl.ie conrrols standover men, has links ~ith criminals who work on the
water�ront and has hi~ or-an illegal gambling interests.
Some of t:he figures wilo have been named under privilege as having links to organ- _
ised crin:e are:
Leonard Arthur McPherson, 5y: Described by Commonwealth police in documents sub-
~r~itted to the Mof f ir Roya1 Cocmnission in 1974 as "a vicious, powerful criminal who
~s so well zntrenched i~~ organised crime activity in NSW that he is often referred -
to in the media and by h is associates as 'Mr Big Arrested more than 70 times
b~~t convicted on onl.y fiv e serious counCs since World War II. Has been acquitted
murder change. Denies involvement with drug trade.
- Gtanley John Smith, 44: Recently released from Pentridge after serving a sentence
for. possessing cannabis. Close associate of McPherson and described before NSW
Parliament as a standover man.
~ David George Freeman, 45: Friend of McPherson and Smith. Describes himself as
a gambler and betting cc~nission agent. Thought to have strong associations with
14
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02148: CIA-RDP82-44850R000300074440-7
Melbourne gambling. Has been named in NSW Parliament by Country Party Leader
Leon Punch as an "organised crime figure".
_ Murray SCewart Riley, 47: Fonner NSW de[ective. Organised crime relies on "bent"
policemen, but Riley has been an entrepreneur in his own rignt. Now in ~ail over
- atkempt to bring $46 million worth of cannatis inCo Australia by boat. Hae US
= cnaf ia links.
Robert Trimbole, 49: Griffith. Refused to give evidence at inquest on Douglas and
Isobel Wilson. on grounds that he might incriminate himself. Sugreme Court con-
- fir~ed this right to silence on 8 August. Coroner Mason said: "There is no daubt
- Trimbole was i.nvolved with Terrence Clark while the drug ring aperated in Australia."
Kari Fred~rick Bonnette, 43: Melbo~.rne-born and record here for firParm offences
in the early Fifties. Has conner_cions here, in Queensiat:d and overseas. Named
- in N~W Parliament in 1978 as a leading underworld mem~er. A memo seized by police
who raided Bonnette's home in 1978 referred to him as 'The Godfather'. On oath
before the Woodward Royal Commission, Bonnette described this as a joke between
another man and hiwsel.f. He also said: "I have had nothing to do with drugs".
Commission counsel Mr B~11 Fisher QC said: "It is my submission that once you
- get away from street level the indications of drug traffifficking are not drugs
bur_ money and associates." [as published]
Antonio Sergi, 4~: Italian winegrower. Mr Justice Woodward said of him:
together with Robert Trimbole, one of the senior members of an organisation which
existed in Griff ith for the purpose of producing and distributing marijuana".
He said r_hat Sergi's net assets in 1977 exceeded $2 million "...the bulk of which
came directly or indirectly from his involvement in the marijuana industry".
The big problem is that there is a vast difference between politicians naming such
people and the police being able to charge them with any offence which will stand
- up in cot~rt.
Lt is this gap that has angered the few senior policemen who have read the report
� con:piled by Victorian Liberals Ken Aldred (who lost his seat in the recent election)
and Don Saltmarsh, a State Member of the Legislative Council,
- They regard the Aldred/Saltmarsh report as long on allegation (going as high as a
certain industrial knight), but short on hard, useable evidence. Messrs Aldred
and Saltmarsh have refused to make their report public, but INSIGHT has learned that
FJ~iile many of the people they na.me are involved in organised crime, certain other
important figures, such as the Melbourne heavy Charlie, mentioned earlier, are not
- included.
Street Drug Prices
Melbourne 'J'3iE AGE in English 19 Nov 80 p 5
[ExcerptJ Going prices for the main drugs in Melbourne are:
- Heroin: Capsules, or "caps", $50 each; gram, $150, "bag" (half an ounce), up to
~ $3000.
15
~
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02148: CIA-RDP82-44850R000300074440-7
_ Cocaine: Similar to heroin prices. A"line" (one snort) costs between $8 and
$12. A gram of cocaine gives about 20 lines.
_ Mari~uana: Heads of plants bring more than lower leaves and seeds. An ounce of -
- "grass" brings about $60, 1 lb brings between $500 and $700. _
Hashish (concentrated from the plant~ brings $25 a gram, $400 to $500 an ounce and
. up to $6000 a lb.
Buddha sticks: Ones from Thailand bring $15 to $20 each and the bulk price is ~
about $9000 for 1000 sticks. Australian-produced sticks are about half this price. .
Hallucinogens: Main one is LSD or "acid". One "tab" costs $S to $7, 106 tablets
$300 to $S00 and 1000 between $1000 and $2000.
Pills: Both "uppers" and "downers" are cheaper than other "trips". Abuse of
legal drugs such as Tuinal and Mandrax is increa.sing rapidly. _
CSO: 5300
?6 -
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2047102108: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
. AUSTRALIA
SOUTHWEST COAST VUI.NERABLE TO DRUG SMUGGLING
Perth THE WEST AUS'TRALIAN in English 22 Nov 80 pp 1, 9
[Article by Andre MalanJ
[Excerpts] The south and south-west coasts of WA have become the weak spot in
Australia's defence against illegal drug imports.
Customs off icers believe that drug traffickers may already be penetrating the coasC-
line between Geraldton and Esperance. But they have no way of knowingq because
~he level of surveillance is so low.
- Their fears are based on the belief that upgraded surveillance of the northern
Australian coast has exposed the vulnerability of the South-West.
Withdrawal
This has coincided with the withdrawal of preventive customs staff from Bunbury,
Albany and Experanc~ because of Federal Government staff ceilings.
The biggest worry is that the coastline, including metropolitan beaches, is wide
open to sea drops of drugs from vessels lying off the coast.
According to the 1979 royal commission into drugs, sea drops offer an eYCellent
opportunity to deliver big quantities of drugs close to ma~or markets with limited
risks of detection.
1'he commission's report said there was a consensus among Federal and State police
that sea drops of drugs were taking place off the WA coa~t.
Yet the Bureau of Customs does not even have a dinghy with which to patrol the
metr.opolitan and South-west coast. The nearest customs vessels--J-class launches,
crtticised in evidence before the commission as being unsuitable for the job--are
- based at Geraldton and rarely venture south.
~ Customs men were also worried about the number of small craft that clustered
around foreign vessels tied up in Fremantle. ~
They said that ttie level of surveillance and searches at Perth Airport was adequate,
but for the wrong reasons. ~
But the main area of concern was the coast between Port Hedland and Townsville,
wnich was closest to South-East Asia and within range of light aircraf t from
Asian countries.
CSO: 5300
- 17
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02148: CIA-RDP82-44850R000300074440-7
AUSTIY?,LIA
WEALTHY SYDNEY RESIDL'NT LINKED TO DRUG RING
Melbourne THE AGE in English 20 Nov 80 p 5
- (Excerpts] An attracrive, slight 25-year-old f ormer kindergarten teacher, iden-
tified only as Piiss X, did not realise the significance at the time, but police
grasped it and quickly changed their thinking on Austrs~lia's drug syndicates. -
iintil Miss X travell~d from London to Melbourne in April this year to testify
against her former boyfriend, Terrence John Clark, police believed that the
mari~uana rings in Australia worked independen tly of the heroin rings.
At the time she arrived, the country's two biggest known drug syndicates had been
exposed but not broken. A 2-month investigation into the murders of New Zea3.anders -
Douglas and Isobel Wilsan had uncovered a hero in syndicate run by Clark with li.nks
around the world. The New South Wales Royal Commission into drug trafficking had
accused an organisation of widespread mari3uana growing in the Griffith area of
New South Wales. -
On the surface, t~he only tning in cammon was that both syndicates were prepared
to kill. Police said Clark's syndicate had murdered at least 10 people including
the Wilsons, whose bodies were buried at Rye. -
= Mr Justice Woodward, who headed the NSW Royal Commission, said the Griff ith
Organisation was responsible for the disappearance and murder of anti-drug crusader
Mr ponald Mackay in Ju1y 1977.
In April, Miss X gave evidence at the Coroner's Court inquest on the Wilsons: She -
identif ied from a picture a man she knew as Bob Jones or "Australian Bob". She
had overheard a conversation between him and Clark in London in July last year.
She sa id she believed the man arranged for the Wilsons to be murdered. The =
significance of that simple statement in theCoroner's Court was that police said
the picture was in fact Robert Trimbole, formerly of Griffith and now of Sydney-- _
the same man who Mr Justice Woodward accused in October last year of being involved _
- in the Griff~th marijuana syndicate. _
Mr Justice Woodward said Trimbole was one of the top men in the marketing and -
distribution end of the operation. Trimbole was one of two men who were excused
from giving ev idence at the Wilson inquest on the ground that questions they may
be asked may incriminate them. This followed an earli~r ruling in the Supreme
Court that Sydney law clerk Brian Al~.exander need not gi~re evidence. _
18
I
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02108: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7
PoJ.ice produced evidance at the inquest that Trimbole travelled to England three _
times in 1.979. The ~oroner, Mr Mason, said this corroborated Miss X's evidence.
Trimbole aas declared bankrupt on 1 November 1968. His statements oF affairs
showed a deficiency of $10,986. About 1969, Trimbole's business was burnt to the
gro~ind, destroying many of the business assets and any of the records then availa-- _
ble. An investigation of the fire was carried out by Detective Sergeant John _
Ellis, who was stationed in Griffith. `
- Ellis and two other NSW policemen were charged in early ~lugust this year with
- conspiring to per~ert the course of justice with each other and Antonio Sergi at
Griffith and elsewhere between 1 February 1974 and 24 Novewber 1978. The three
will face the charge early next year. -
In the following years 'Trimbole's business intereats expanded greatly, He invested -
_ blg amounts into real estate and ather businesses. He was discharged from bank- _
ruptcy of 4 July 1975 after receipts had shown he had spent more than $250,00~ in =
the previous years. [as published]
- Tie soon became a man of obvious wealth. There were six family cars and two speed
boats in 1977. Trimbole claimed that he won $1.5 million from betting over five
years.
- Mr Justice Woodward said of Trimbole, '...he sa been guilty of a number of offences
against the general criminal law, the taxation laws and the bankruptcy laws of
~his country. [as publ~ished] He has comspired with others to cultivate, produce _
and distribute marijuana in large quantities. He has made false taxation returns. _
_ - -
- "~Is has, as an undischarged bankrupt, committed a number off ences whi.ch are pro- -
scribed by the Bankruptcy Act. [as published? He has failed to keep proper books
of accounts and I am satisf ied that in the answers to many of the questions that -
wexe put to him in the witness box he has deliberately lied in order to misle.~d
this inquiry. _
'Tt;c conspiracy Lo which I have referred arises out his membership of some
organised crime syndicate involved in the marijuana industry. From the investiga-
tions that have been made by officers of my commission, I asse~s that Trimbole
- ha~, between 1 July 1971 and 30 June 1978 acquired assets in excess of. $1.5 mil- -
lion in addition to what he has squan~iered in betting, living expenses, alleged
loans and gifts." [as published]
- CSO: 5300
_ ~
~ 19
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02/08: CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070040-7

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2007/02148: CIA-RDP82-00850R040340070040-7
AUSTRALIA
HEROIN DEALER GETS 8 YEARS Ir1 JAIL FOR POSSESSION
Brisbane THE COURIER-MAIL in English 20 Nov 80 p 20
[ Text ) A AAAN c~arg~ wi~tf~? passession of heroin with c'street va(ue of up
- to $274,004 was sQntenced in the Criminal Court yesterday to eight
years' jail. . _
" Mr Justic~ D.M. CsmpbeII ~id d~e The bottle cantslned 288.3 ~n ~o!
maa convinced 3obn Rs~bat Conwa9 w~?~ P~d~ ~ 10 bags aad 8.76 gm of
had been in ths heroin trade not oa19 White PoW~r !a 10 ioil packs8~.
to sesvice hL~ own b.abi; bnt atao tD The P~der contained 60.58 B~ of
mnke easy monn9� ' pure hemin. I1 brolr,en dmvr? to ab'otit 6
Couaray~ ~'T, bricblaYer'a Iaborer~ P~'~eat st:ren6~. the heroin vPOnld _
pleaded gu11tY to two clzazB~ oi havin8 have 91e1ded 7388 deals. which arere
- hnd heraia ior r,mle. ~
He pieadeci ~uilty aiso W m~~ ~f tmum street~ueof t'Y14,OOO~Mr Dre~
he+v~.ig laxci about g300 obLaintd Ysnm
tne sala oi 2ieroln: & cha~ of havfn8 said Conw~y ilrst denied aIl know-
haci acxle9 used to x~ight h~min~ he ~tte~ii t~at h~t~sd~ derta~sn
u charge oi having hact s9rin8~
bad usod to 1n]ect himself with Yteroin. to deliver tk~e heroin for 8100 a
The , Crown ~'rosgc.'cator. D4r F.3~. dellverY. -
x1reW, aaid L~ao SiT~ ~.8~ 1S and 11 aa~v Mr H.C. 1�onB