Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jun 2001
Source: Herald Sun (Australia)
Copyright: 2001 News Limited
Contact:  http://www.heraldsun.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/187
Author: Keith Moor

PACIFIC HAVEN FOR CRIME GANGS

THE seizure of 357kg of heroin in Fiji confirmed what police 
intelligence was suggesting that Asian organised crime gangs were 
entrenched in Pacific island countries.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty says there is no 
doubt such gangs see the area as a platform to Australia.

"A warning bell was sounded last August when an Asian group allegedly 
attempted to stage a 1.2 tonne shipment of amphetamine precursor 
chemicals through Papua New Guinea," he said.

"And in October the AFP was involved as part of an international task 
force with the dismantling of an Asian syndicate using Fiji as a 
staging post for heroin and people smuggling and credit card fraud.

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

"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."

Mr Keelty said the emergence of Asian organised crime in the Pacific 
made it even more vital for the AFP to be involved in peace-keeping 
missions.

"People don't immediately recognise the nexus between why we get 
involved in peace-keeping operations around the world and crime," he 
said.

"But, clearly, where there is a breakdown of law and order in a 
particular society it does create a potential haven for organised 
crime.

"The Pacific is a noted venue of money laundering.

"The activity is fostered by island countries with few resources to 
sell other than their financial names.

"We have noticed a growing presence of Russian organised crime in the region.

"For example, we understand that the Russians laundered something 
like $70 billion through the island of Niue in the South Pacific.

"We have seen evidence of major drug trafficking and other crimes 
through Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

"Papua New Guinea is not dissimilar to some of the South Pacific 
nations in that you can island hop your way to Australia, so PNG is 
an area of vulnerability for us.

"We have also seen drug and people smuggling come through the Torres Strait."

Mr Keelty said it was very difficult to get convictions when 
sophisticated organised crime syndicates moved in to unsophisticated 
criminal justice systems.

"Before we seized the 357kg of heroin in Fiji the head of the Fiji 
drug squad had never seen heroin," he said.

"These external operations have highlighted for the AFP the 
difficulty of staging offshore operations in countries where regimes 
are weak and law enforcement resources poorly developed.

"For example, extradition to Australia is extremely difficult when 
the legal and technical framework in the external country concerned 
does not support the kinds of forensic demands made in Australia.

"Joint operations are also difficult where there is a substantial 
technological and training gap between Australian law enforcement and 
police in the Pacific. These are the reasons we get involved in 
peace-keeping missions, in that having a presence adds value to the 
criminal justice system.

"This role is especially important in Australia's near region -- a 
region that some have come to refer as a zone of crisis or arc of 
instability.

"There is a close inter-relationship between trans-national crime and 
peace-keeping. This comes about because of the propensity of 
transnational crime to flourish in weak or failed states, and the 
important role of peace-keeping in helping to return such states to 
stability.

"The nexus between poor governance and crime is obvious in countries 
like Afghanistan, Burma and Colombia -- all with civil wars and all 
with significant drug production and trafficking problems.

"But it is also evident in the case of our Asian neighbours, where 
weak and sometimes corrupt regimes have become havens for all kinds 
of criminal entrepreneurs."

Mr Keelty said the AFP was aware of crime syndicates which have 
joined forces in using the Pacific region as a base to smuggle drugs 
into Australia.

"We believe they have been responsible for a significant amount of 
heroin that has been imported into Australia," he said.

"We surmise it is in the hundreds of kilograms. This isn't just one 
syndicate. It is in fact a link between a number of syndicates 
throughout Asia and the South Pacific.

"The deliberate strategy of the syndicates is to use countries where 
there is a failed state, or a breakdown of law and order, as a 
platform to get the stuff into Australia.

"They know they are relatively safe operating in these countries."

Mr Keelty said syndicate members also knew if they were caught in 
Pacific nations they faced far less severe sentences than in 
Australia.

For example, the maximum penalty for drug trafficking in Fiji is 
eight years, compared with life in Australia.
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe