DRUG LORDS' DEADLY DEALS

ORGANISED Asian crime gangs are using strife-torn South Pacific
nations as bases in the hope of flooding Australia with drugs.

And the bosses have made a marketing decision to deal mainly in
deadly methamphetamine tablets instead of heroin.

New Australian Federal Police chief Mick Keelty has also revealed
Australia's heroin drought was more a result of the business strategy
by crime czars than a shortage of the drug.

He said there was plenty of heroin available in Asia, but crime
syndicates had decided to concentrate on making methamphetamine
(speed) tablets instead.

"They are making speed pills that look like ecstasy and in many cases
they attempt to pass it off as ecstasy. Some people might think these
tablets are sexier than heroin.

"And the syndicates have their market research which tells them that
these days people are more prepared to pop a pill than inject
themselves," he said.

"The syndicates are also marking these pills with logos of things
associated with high quality and high class as part of their
marketing exercise to make use of the drug more desirable."

Symbols used include Mitsubishi, Apple Computer and Calvin Klein
logos and Bart Simpson.

AFP intelligence suggests Asian organised crime gangs have singled
out various troubled Pacific nations to stockpile their drugs and
smuggle them from.

Mr Keelty said there was no doubt the syndicates viewed such
countries as ideal platforms into Australia.

An international taskforce has already dismantled an Asian syndicate
which was using Fiji as a staging post for heroin and people
smuggling and credit card fraud.

Mr Keelty said the AFP had also seen evidence of organised crime
gangs being involved in major drug trafficking, money laundering and
other crimes through Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Papua New
Guinea.

"There is also evidence of major criminal activity in other
comparatively weak Pacific island countries," he said.

"Often these countries have very lax immigration regimes, in the
sense that officials are usually poorly trained and resourced and
sometimes corrupt.

"Such regimes provide opportunity for Asian criminals to base
themselves on Pacific islands.

"And become involved in activities like illicit drug smuggling and
people smuggling, without being recorded or noticed elsewhere."

In a wide-ranging interview with the Herald Sun Mr Keelty, also revealed:

BEING able to monitor and counter the rise of organised crime gangs
keen to take advantage of civil unrest in Asia-Pacific regions was a
key reason for the AFP being involved in peace-keeping missions, in
addition to humanitarian aspects.

CORRUPT officials in drug-producing nations made the trade impossible
to stamp out.

ORGANISED crime gangs sick of being reliant on drug barons sourcing
heroin from South-East Asia may turn to syndicates with access to
Afghanistan, where about 75 per cent of the world's heroin is now
produced.

COLOMBIAN cartels are switching from cocaine production to opium
growing - South American-made heroin has already been found in
Australia.

RUSSIAN organised crime gangs are preying on ailing Pacific island
countries and laundering vast sums of money through them.

CRIMINAL gangs from Pakistan, Lebanon and Turkey have been trying to
feed Afghan heroin into the existing drug routes to Australia from
the Golden Triangle region of Burma, Thailand and Laos.

CHINESE Malay and mainland Chinese gangs are sending teams into
Australia armed with fake credit cards to buy high-value goods and
withdraw money.

NIGERIAN criminal gangs are swiping legitimate credit cards and
stealing the electronic data from them for transfer to illicitly
manufactured cards for use on the Australian market.

CO-OPERATION between organised crime gangs is rife as they shun
traditional rivalries and form alliances to achieve mutual profit
from drug and people smuggling, credit card fraud, money laundering
and other crimes.

Mr Keelty, 46, is a career officer of 27 years who, in April, became
the first AFP Commissioner to be appointed from within AFP ranks.

He said Burma was thought to be producing about 700 million
methamphetamine tablets a year.

"And while most of them currently end up in Thailand we do expect the
syndicates to also target Australia," he said.

Mr Keelty said the AFP and Australian Customs Service had recently
been very successful in seizing illicit drugs and identifying
smuggling routes.

The successes had prompted organised crime gangs to rethink the type
of drugs they are dealing in and how to move them.

"The operational results achieved by the AFP support the Government's
decision to fund supply reduction measures as part of its
three-pronged illicit drugs strategy," he said.

"We are making a difference and this is reflected in ongoing
financial support for the AFP by the Government."

Mr Keelty has recently returned from a visit to Asian countries where
he was briefed at the highest level on the latest crime and drug
trends.

He said large quantities of crystaline methamphetamine from
South-East Asia, known as ice, had already turned up in Australia. A
record seizure of 79kg was made in Sydney on December 21 last year.

And AFP intelligence suggests getting the Burmese methamphetamine
tablets, known as "yaa baa" (crazy medicine) pills, on to the
Australian market is high on the agenda of Asian organised crime
gangs.

"Some MDMA, also known as ecstasy, is produced in Asia, including in
Burma, but most MDMA imported into Australia is still sourced from
Europe," Mr Keelty said.

"However, there has been a growing trend for Asian criminals,
particularly from South-East Asia, to be involved in these
importations.

"Should high quality ecstasy ever be produced in Asia I would have no
doubt it would soon be exported to Australia."