ECSTASY FOUND IN COMPUTERS

Ecstasy tablets with an estimated street value of $7 million have been
found hidden inside computer monitors, police have revealed.

The discovery was made last week when police swooped on a
freight-forwarding company in Botany in Sydney's south and found the
100,000 tablets strapped to parts inside 10 computer monitors.

Malcolm Field, 59, and Bruce Clark, 42, appeared in Parramatta Local Court
on Friday charged in relation to the haul. Field did not apply for bail.
Clark was granted conditional bail but was unable to post the $100,000
surety and remained in custody.

The men were not in possession of drugs when they were arrested, but police
said they had evidence to show the men were principal figures in the drug
activity.

Police said the computer monitors which stored the drugs were destined for
a fake Sydney address.

Australian Federal Police, New South Wales Police and Australian Customs
worked in a joint operation after they received intelligence from an
undisclosed source.

The shipment was airfreighted to Sydney from Malaysia on or about December
23, but police said the likely source of the tablets was Europe.

"This was not by chance, it was not by tip-off, it was by very good
investigation by police who identified the drugs and developed the evidence
sufficient to prosecute these people," Australian Federal Police general
manager John Lawler said.

"We have engaged a number of international law-enforcement agencies with
whom we have very good levels of cooperation and we'll be advancing those
lines of inquiry with those particular agencies."

He did not rule out making further arrests, in Australia and overseas.

Customs Minister Amanda Vanstone praised the cooperation of the three
authorities. She said the arrests confirmed that the Australian Federal
Police were "key international players" in the fight against drugs and that
state agencies had everything to gain by working with them to stop drug
trafficking.

"The seizure of about 34kg of ecstasy in Sydney is a tremendous cooperative
effort," she said.

Senator Vanstone said seizure rates had gone up dramatically but the Bureau
of Criminal Intelligence had not indicated usage rates had gone up. "If
these extra seizures were simply because these extra drugs were coming in
then you'd expect the usage rates to go up.

"The usage rates haven't gone up to any great degree in any age group and
therefore we can conclude that we are getting a higher proportion of
drugs," she said.

NSW Police Commander Mal Brammer said drug barons were becoming more
sophisticated in their smuggling methods, making drug busts more challenging.

"As law enforcement becomes more professional, so do the people we focus
upon," Commander Brammer said.

Police would not speculate on whether the seizure would have an immediate
impact on the Australian drug market.

"The reality is, as of yesterday, 100,000 tablets of ecstasy have been
removed from potential distribution to the community," Mr Lawler said.

Senator Vanstone said: "The very high risk with ecstasy is that it will be
laced with something else."