Pubdate: Thu, 08 Mar 2001 Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) Copyright: 2001 The Sydney Morning Herald Contact: GPO Box 3771, Sydney NSW 2001 Fax: 61-(0)2-9282 3492 Website: http://www.smh.com.au/ Forum: http://forums.fairfax.com.au/ Author: Neil Mercer, Adelaide FIJI A PACIFIC PARADISE FOR ORGANISED CRIME - POLICE Organised crime groups are targeting South Pacific nations such as Fiji to aid in the trafficking of drugs and people, the International Policing Conference was told yesterday. The Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Mr Mick Palmer, said sophisticated criminals were looking to work through nations where there was "internal disruption or disharmony" and weaker drug laws to maximise their chances of success and lower their chances of being caught. He said intelligence indicated trans-national crime syndicates had been operating through Fiji and other Pacific nations since the early 1990s. Mr Palmer, who retires next week after almost seven years in the job, urged more co-operation on a formal level between Australia and countries in South-East Asia to establish conventions and protocols to cope with the emergence of organised criminals and make a real dent in the heroin trade. He said an AFP operation, codenamed Log-runner, which took place in Fiji last year and involved police from Canada, the US and New Zealand, was an example of such co-operation. AFP officer Mr Richard Moses told the Adelaide conference that in January 2000, Thai and US police seized 126 kilograms of heroin in Bangkok and that evidence from the operation had indicated heroin was being moved through Fiji for forwarding to Australia and North America. Thirteen days later AFP and US Drug Enforcement Administration officers went to Fiji and the operation got under way. In September, 93 kilograms of heroin were seized in Canada and one of the men arrested had a business card which again linked the heroin to Fiji. The joint operation was mounted in July, which presented difficulties as the country was still destabilised after the May coup by George Speight. On October 28 last year, the multi-nation force had seized 357 kilograms of heroin and arrested 11 key syndicate members. That meant a total of 576 kilograms of heroin had emanated from the one syndicate. Mr Palmer said intelligence indicated the syndicate had a tonne of heroin to move out of the country. But while the operation had been a success, he said that even if the leaders were convicted, the maximum penalty was only eight years' jail. This was because Fiji's drug laws had never been updated because the country had never had a significant heroin problem. Later, launching a strategy for coping with electronic crime, Mr Palmer said solving e-crime was "not mission impossible" but police would need speedier responses to criminal activity to prevent the loss of evidence. They would soon have to be just as competent coping with a "technology crime scene" as they were with a homicide scene. The South Australian Police Commissioner, Mr Mal Hyde, called for a central cyber-crime bureau that could be accessed by all law enforcement agencies, but Mr Palmer said more research needed to be done first. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth