Pubdate: Sun, 10 Dec 2000
Source: Sun Herald (Australia)
Copyright: 2000 John Fairfax Holdings Ltd
Contact:  http://www.sunherald.com.au/

TWO CHARGED AFTER RECORD SEIZURE OF ECSTASY

Australia's largest ecstasy haul, hidden in a shipment of French wine,
led to drugs charges being brought against two men yesterday.

Federal Justice and Customs Minister Amanda Vanstone announced the
record seizure of 271,000 tablets, weighing 105.5kg, with a street
value of $13.5 million.

Senator Vanstone said Federal Police had monitored the movement of a
container allegedly holding the drugs to a warehouse in the Port
Botany area.

Part of the shipment had been unpacked and two men were arrested on
Friday night, Senator Vanstone said.

Customs had used sophisticated analysis methods to target the sea
container from France, she said.

The latest X-ray and ionscan particle analysis equipment had also been
used to identify the ecstasy.

"The discovery led to a joint Customs and Federal Police operation
which has resulted in two men being arrested last night in Sydney and
charged in connection with the seizure," she said in a statement yesterday.

Bruce Anthony Ridgway, 52, an Australian bartender living in the
Philippines, and James Linaker Neale, 54, a UK citizen living in Hong
Kong, were charged with being knowingly concerned in the importation
of ecstasy and attempted possession of the drug.

Their solicitor, Mary Spiers, told Parramatta Local Court yesterday
she did not wish to apply for bail for either of the accused.

Registrar Donna Evans formally refused bail and remanded both men to
appear at Central Local Court tomorrow.

Neither of the men appeared in court.

A Federal Police spokesman said the drugs had entered the country by
sea freight at Port Botany in late November.

A major operation was launched in which the tablets were replaced with
dummies and the container tracked to a warehouse in Port Botany.

On Friday night, part of the shipment allegedly containing the ecstasy
had been unpacked and two men had been arrested at the Regent Hotel
near Sydney's Circular Quay.

This operation followed a joint Dutch-Australian Federal Police
operation, which led to substantial drug hauls and arrests in The
Netherlands, Senator Vanstone said.

The previous biggest haul of ecstasy tablets and powder, weighing
76kg, was made in January this year.

The drugs were found in a consignment of hydraulic rams that had
arrived in Brisbane from The Netherlands, she said.
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