Cops seize drugs worth $45,000

Drugs worth as much as $45,000 and bound for remote communities were seized by police in a targeted operation.

On Wednesday, a search of freight and luggage belonging to a 33-year-old woman revealed 13 grams of cannabis and 499 deal bags of kava with a total weight of almost 25 kilograms.

At another airline later in the day a 36-year-old woman was charged with supplying cannabis and possessing a trafficable quantity after 101.8g of the drug was found in her luggage.

The next day, police searched passengers and luggage at Maningrida airport, where 75g of cannabis was found in two water bottles.

A further 82g of cannabis was located in another package.

Drug Enforcement Section Acting Superintendent Mark Setter said the collaborative approach between the Remote Community Drug Desk, sniffer dogs, police in remote areas and community elders continued to pay dividends.

"The elders have been very helpful and support our efforts to reduce the flow of drugs to remote communities because they can see the benefits," he said.

"We know from what communities are telling us about the effects of the drug on their communities that what we're doing is important and effective.

"We will continue to target those who supply drugs to these communities and will think up different strategies to counter the way they do things.

"There are certain individuals and groups we are targeting and the message I would send to anyone that supplies remote communities with drugs is it's only a matter of time before we find you and lock you up."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Fri, 25 Mar 2005
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Author: Greg McLean
Copyright: 2005 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://ntnews.news.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/283