700 Hells Angels, Gypsy Jokers, Rebels and Finks converged at the Gawler racecourse, then rode with a police escort through Barossa towns

Biker gang leaders say Premier Mike Rann has a personal axe to grind against them.
Mr Rann agrees – emphatically. "Yes, I have a personal axe to grind," he said yesterday, a day after bikies staged their protest against State Government laws which can be used to prevent members from associating with each other. "My personal axe is I am a father," Mr Rann said. "I am determined that criminal bikie gangs won't run our pubs, our clubs, or run our streets." He also called on other state governments to copy SA's legislation. In unprecedented scenes on Saturday, some of the world's most infamous bikie gangs united for a protest run through the Barossa Valley and announced plans to form their own political party to contest the next state election. About 700 Hells Angels, Gypsy Jokers, Rebels and Finks converged at the Gawler racecourse, then rode with a police escort through Barossa towns, causing traffic chaos. The protest ride coincided with a Gypsy Jokers annual run, which never before had been open to other clubs. "I know from going out there talking to real people that other parents want me to keep going," Mr Rann said. "We have tough laws against criminal bikie gangs. No decent motorcyclist has anything to run about.
"If you are involved in drugs, violence, extortion, we stand by our laws and back our police to the hilt. "I slept really well last night. That's because I have great confidence in the people of South Australia . . . No one is going to be dumb enough to vote for the bikies party." Mr Rann said supporters of the bikies would have people believe they ran "knitting circles". "They are involved in everything from murder to rape to extortion to kidnapping to running protection rackets," he said.
Asked about the strong police presence on Saturday, Mr Rann said one could imagine what would have happened if police had not been present and something had gone wrong. "I totally back the police with what they did. "This was about a demonstration by bikies who hoped we would back down. I will not back down against violent criminal gangs who are selling drugs to our kids."

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Victoria Nicholson's who flew to China to start a new life with a man she met on the internet has been jailed in Australia

A British woman who flew to China to start a new life with a man she met on the internet has been jailed in Australia after he forced her to smuggle drugs.
Victoria Nicholson's story was revealed today as police in Sydney began an investigation with the Chinese to track down the cruel hoaxer.The school teacher wrote 'Love is blind' on an internet dating site as she searched for a companion after a string of failed relationships. 'Love is blind': Victoria Nicholson is in an Australian jail after she was fooled by a Nigerian drug runner whom she met online
Miss Nicholson endured several abusive relationships, but raised two children.She headed off to Turkey for a holiday and met a man in Fetya who was to become her husband - but the marriage failed when she found out he was a gigolo trying to use her to get British citizenship.Her search for love on the internet was 'like an addiction' she told Sydney's Sun-Herald newspaper in an interview in a Sydney prison. Then, online, she met a Nigerian called Emmanuel.He told her he loved her and offered the woman a new life in China.Miss Nicholson's 22-year-old daughter warned her about taking the trip to Guangshou. But on the promise of a job and a lover, the lonely heart took off from London in July 2007. She told her family she had nothing to lose.Emmanuel met her at the airport in China and helped her find a job at a private school but within weeks things began to change. Her plans to return home by Christmas collapsed when her return ticket to England disappeared - and Emmanuel started going out alone at night.When she asked if another woman was involved, he said that was not the case but added: 'Nothing's for nothing, Victoria.' Miss Nicholson described the horror scene that followed. When her lover returned home one night with two other Nigerian men, he told her that she and he would be delivering a packet of 'important medicine' to Australia.
But the means of carrying the small package was to be her own body - forced into her during a sex session.She was put on a plane with an escort, who disappeared in the transit lounge of Bangkok airport. She didn't approach any officials to tell them of her plight, fearing that another member of the drug ring was on board the plane.
At Sydney airport, she was pulled aside by customs officers and confessed immediately to the secret package she was carrying.She has since pleaded guilty to a charge of importing a marketable quantity of an illegal drug - 264 grams of heroin - and has been sentenced to a four and a half years jail.'If I'm truthful to myself, I've been a fool,' she told the newspaper.Miss Nicholson has pleaded with Australian authorities to serve out her jail term in Britain so she can be closer to her mother, her daughter and her 21-year-old son, a Royal Navy Iraq veteran.

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Julian Robert Cazabon, 38, pleaded guilty to conspiring with the police informer and others to smuggle cocaine.

Julian Robert Cazabon, 38, pleaded guilty to conspiring with the police informer and others to smuggle cocaine. The County Court heard the supergrass and another man, Shanu Krawiec, organised foreigners to act as drug couriers and to deposit cash into accounts in Australia. The informer was sent ATM cards so he could obtain the money overseas to buy more cocaine and pay for courier expenses. Cazabon's first job for the drug network was to meet and greet a drug mule on arrival at Sydney Airport in September last year. Defence lawyer John Kelly said his client, a long-term drug addict, used to buy his amphetamines from the supergrass and owed him a lot of money. After receiving threats, Cazabon went into hiding, but later agreed to meet the supergrass in Thailand. He refused to help traffic drugs there, but agreed he would try to pay off his $10,000 debt some other way and was later instructed to meet a man at Sydney Airport who had swallowed 1kg of cocaine. But the man, Michael McGrath, was arrested by Canadian police before he boarded the flight.
Cazabon said he got paid only $1000 for his role and had been terrified of the supergrass after receiving threats over the phone and a break-in at his parents' home. The court was told the police informer was fighting extradition to Australia from the Netherlands, where he was arrested in December last year. Judge Frank Gucciardo adjourned sentencing, pending a medical report.

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Dallas Brooks Shrimpton had taken his daily methadone prescription and Codral Cold and Flu tablets, Panadeine Forte and four painkillers

Dallas Brooks Shrimpton, 45, of Lochiel Road, appeared in Kogarah Local Court last month, where he was sentenced for six charges, all relating to the same incident on September 14 last year.Magistrate Sharon Holdsworth said Shrimpton had taken his daily methadone prescription and Codral Cold and Flu tablets, Panadeine Forte and four painkillers that were for his dog, to dull the pain he suffered from two previous car accidents.Magistrate Holdsworth said Shrimpton then drove his car on West Botany Street, Rockdale, and crashed into the back of another car, causing that vehicle to hit another car.Shrimpton left the scene but returned later and punched one of the drivers who was talking on his phone.He then tried to hit the second driver but missed. ``Police tried to intervene and he took exception to their involvement,'' Magistrate Holdsworth said. Magistrate Holdsworth said there was nodoubt the drugs contributed to Shrimpton's ``erratic and bizarre behaviour''.
``It's fortunate that no one was more seriously injured,'' she said.Shrimpton pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer, resisting a police officer, two counts of common assault, negligent driving and driving under the influence.
Magistrate Holdsworth said the fact that he had no previous convictions for violence had saved him from going to jail.He was ordered to carry out 150 hours of community service and fined $1300. He was also put on a 12-month good behaviour bond and banned from driving for a year.

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Joseph John Mansour thought he had a special relationship with Tony Mokbel, and could not break away from his influence.

Joseph John Mansour pleaded guilty to six charges including trafficking a large commercial quantity of methamphetamines.The Supreme Court heard he was involved with a drug-trafficking syndicate known as The Company, that sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mokbel, before his arrest in Greece two years ago.
In sentencing, Justice Betty King said the turnover of The Company was more than $4-million and the profits enabled Mokbel to maintain his life on the run in relative comfort. She told the Court, the accused thought he had a special relationship with Mokbel, and could not break away from his influence. Mansour will serve a non-parole period of seven years.

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Quoc Viet Lai accused of taking bribes to smuggle almost $4 million in drug money out of the country

The Australian Crime Commission has accused senior Vietnam Airlines pilot Quoc Viet Lai of taking bribes to smuggle almost $4 million in drug money out of the country in previous trips dating back to 2005.He is alleged to have picked up suitcases of cash in Melbourne and Sydney and carried them onto planes back to Vietnam, using his privileged status as an airline pilot to bypass customs bag checks.
The experienced pilot was charged last night with 40 counts of money laundering and will appear in a Sydney court today.The arrest gives a glimpse into one of the nation's most secretive and significant operations fighting organised crime.In its last annual report, the Crime Commission revealed that since March 2005, Operation Gordian had arrested 63 people, stopped the sale of drugs worth $1 billion and tracked $93 million in drug money leaving Australia. That figure is believed to have ballooned since then.Lai is the second international pilot from Vietnam's government-owned carrier to be arrested by the commission for allegedly carrying suitcases filled with drug money onto planes bound for Vietnamese airports.The first pilot, Van Dang Tran, was jailed for 4½ years last August for attempting to smuggle $6.5 million out of Australia.Lai, who was arrested yesterday morning after flying from Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney, is accused of collecting the proceeds of drug sales on 17 occasions in 2005 and 2006 from Vietnamese money remitters in Footscray and the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta.Operation Gordian, which includes assistance from the Australian Federal Police, Austrac and state police forces, monitors drug money as it leaves Australia instead of retrospectively tracing proceeds of crime after a drug bust.The operation has uncovered how several sophisticated drug syndicates send their money from drug sales in Australia back to South-East Asia via electronic money transfers and physical couriers.

John Broome, former chairman of the Australian Crime Commission's predecessor, the National Crime Authority, said Australia was a highly lucrative market for South-East Asian drug barons.

"If we don't stop the laundering of funds out of Australia, we are giving them enough to buy a huge amount of extra heroin to send back here," he said.

Recent media reports have revealed that Australian law enforcement agencies are concerned about an increase in the amount of heroin reaching Australia.Mr Broome, who has been a critic of the lack of action taken by some agencies to combat money laundering, said it was too early to tell whether last year's changes to anti-money-laundering legislation were having an effect. He said an obsession with terrorism meant some agencies had "dropped the ball" on organised crime.
"If you ask what is more damaging to Australian society, major crimes like drug trafficking and money laundering or terrorism, the answer is clear: it is drug trafficking and money laundering."It is estimated that between $2 billion and $3 billion is laundered in Australia each year.The arrest of a second international airline pilot also puts the focus back on airport security. While recent changes, arising from the 2005 Wheeler report on airport security, would have reduced the alleged ease with which the pilots allegedly smuggled the drug money onto their planes, sources say vulnerabilities remain.

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Daniel Patterson, Mark Baensch charged with heroin trafficking

Daniel Patterson, 36, and Mark Baensch, also 36, were arrested at their Autumn St unit on Monday.Magistrate William White adjourned proceedings until April 15 for a contest mention and neither defendant applied for bail.The defendants' lawyer, Michael Brugman, told the court there were ``custodial issues'' in remanding the two men as both were taking methadone daily as part of drug treatment
Mr Brugman said Mr Baensch also suffered from stomach ulcers and was taking anti-depressant tablets.Police seized a crossbow, arrows and some sporting goods when they arrested the men at their unit on Monday.Mr Patterson slouched low during yesterday's court proceedings while Mr Baensch stared at the floor.

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Robert Charles Wilson was fined $7000 for importing prohibited goods in breach of the Customs Act 1901.

Customs inspectors at Darwin had another conviction recorded against importers of body building drugs.A Darwin man was yesterday (Tuesday 4 March 2008) found guilty of smuggling performance and image enhancing drugs into Australia.
Customs National Manager Investigations, Richard Janeczko, said this was the second conviction of its type in the Darwin Magistrates Court with in the past two weeks."Customs continues to be vigilant in preventing the smuggling of these types of drugs," Mr Janeczko said.Mr Robert Charles Wilson, 34, was fined $7000 for importing prohibited goods in breach of the Customs Act 1901.Customs investigations began on 20 June 2007 when officers in Melbourne intercepted a parcel from Thailand, destined for a Darwin address.On inspection the parcel was found to contain anabolic and androgenic substances concealed in chocolate boxes.Anabolic and androgenic substances are performance and image enhancing drugs that cannot be imported into Australia.As a result of the detection, Customs investigators searched a property in Larrakeyah, where they seized evidentiary material.On 25 February 2008, a 35-year-old Darwin man was convicted and fined $10,000 for the same offence.
"These convictions send a strong message that Customs is committed to detecting and prosecuting any one involved in smuggling prohibited goods into Australia," Mr Janeczko said.
"While some of these substances are freely available in other countries, Customs will not tolerate their importation into Australia without a permit."

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Dennis Paul Paddison, Kelsey Nerbas,Matthew Reed,Dereck Hotner, Dale Handlen drug bust in Australia involving a shipping container from Canada.

Australian police say they expect more arrests will be made here in Canada following this week's huge drug bust in Brisbane involving more than $30 million worth of cocaine and ecstasy. Five B.C. men and an Australian face drug smuggling charges after being arrested in the capital of the state of Queensland on Wednesday.
The seized computer monitors, some of which contained cocaine and ecstasy in a shipment from B.C. Australian customs officials found the drugs on Sept. 8, stuffed into computer monitors in a shipping container that originated in the Lower Mainland.
Bruce Hill, who is in charge of international operations for the Australian Federal Police, told CBC News that he believes more arrests are imminent."We have a federal police officer from Washington in Canada working closely with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I'm sure, as a result of that, we'll definitely get some very good results out of this."Australian suspect known to police
Hill says the mastermind behind the cocaine import scheme is a well-known organized crime figure in Sydney.
"We will allege in court that he was the intended recipient and financier of this operation from the Australian side. Now we've got inquiries going in Canada to try and establish who the principals are over there."

The five B.C. men arrested in Brisbane have been identified as Dennis Paul Paddison, 40, of Abbotsford; Dereck Hotner, 34, also of Abbotsford;,, 40; Matthew Reed, 26; and Kelsey Nerbas, 28. Nerbas, who had been living in Australia, is a former resident of Kelowna, B.C.All five remain in custody and are next scheduled to appear in court in November. The smuggling charges carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
This is the second recent drug bust in Australia involving a shipping container from Canada.
Four months ago, Australian authorities seized 1.2 million ecstasy tablets from a container in Melbourne, and arrested one man in Melbourne and three men in Sydney.
Michael Carmody, the CEO of the Australian Customs Service, says the two sets of arrests should serve as a warning.
"It does seem that people believe that by shipping goods through what would be seen as a friendly benign country in this area, they thought that they would avoid our scrutiny, and they haven't, and that's probably a message for others who might like to try that."

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John James Boyd appeal dismissed

John James Boyd, 32, was jailed after pleading guilty to helping import $80,000 worth of ecstasy from British Columbia in Canada, in 2005.The 2024 ecstasy tablets were mailed to an address at Mermaid Beach, on the Gold Coast, but the parcel was intercepted by authorities who found cheap toys and the ecstasy tablets, wrapped in a smaller package using birthday gift paper.Federal Police used plain tablets to replace the ecstasy before the box was repackaged and sent to Mermaid Beach on November 2, 2005.The court was told a federal officer delivered the package and police waited outside the home while a co-accused accepted the parcel.Within 15 minutes Boyd emerged from the house with the parcel and was arrested by police.
Boyd had sent a total of $16,080 to Canadian bank accounts in October 2005.
He said he was a heavy steroids user and became involved in the importing of a package because he owed his steroids supplier money.Boyd, who said he believed the package contained steroids, appealed on the grounds the sentence was manifestly excessive.He argued the crown had exaggerated his role in the importation, he had been an unwitting party to importing ecstasy and there had been threats made against him.In an unanimous written judgment, which became available today, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.The Court of Appeal's President Margaret McMurdo said Boyd was in the Australian army before spending six years in the NSW police force where he worked in indigenous communities, did charity work and received a bravery award.Justice McMurdo noted since he had left the police Boyd had continued his charity work in detention centres and was working as youth counsellor at the time of his arrest."He is a mature man. His prior community work makes his involvment in this offence all the more puzzling," she said.
Justice McMurdo said, however, there was no support for the proposition the sentence was manifestly excessive and the appeal should be dismissed.

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NSW government minister Milton Orkopoulos used drugs to "lure and trap" young boys

Orkopoulos, 50, is standing trial in the Newcastle District Court on 34 child sex and drug charges for offences dating back to 1995.
The former Labor member for Swansea on Tuesday pleaded guilty to one count of supplying cannabis and another of possessing child pornography but pleaded not guilty to a remaining 34 offences.Crown Prosecutor Helen Wilson told the court that Orkopoulos met his first victim through the Labor party in 1995 and won his trust by supplying him with alcohol, cannabis, and encouraging him to speak about his problems.Orkopoulos then hooked the boy on heroin, supplying him with the drug, needles and syringes and teaching him how to inject, Ms Wilson said.
Two other victims, aged 16 or younger, were also plied with alcohol and drugs and assaulted or forced into sex during the following decade, she said.
"What I expect that the evidence will show is that the accused used drugs to lure and trap these boys ... into sexual relations with him," Ms Wilson told the court.
A student who was in Year 12 and doing a leadership course at Parliament House in 2005 said Orkopoulos gave him a joint and they smoked it in a courtyard near his office.A fellow student who was with them at the time said he remembered the MP's words clearly.
"He said something like, 'this is where us politicians deal our drugs'," she said.
"He basically told me, 'just don't tell anyone'."
They then went to lunch with Newcastle MP Bryce Gaudry, the student said.The jury was told Mr Gaudry and fellow Labor party figures Jill Byrne and Jill Hall would give evidence at the four-week trial.

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Family of Australian star Heath Ledger

Family of Australian star Heath Ledger has rejected mounting speculation the actor committed suicide in his New York City apartment.
The Brokeback Mountain star was found in dead just after 3pm yesterday after a suspected drug overdose. He was 28.
An intial autopsy carried out by the New York City Medical Examiner was 'inconclusive', according to U.S. reports.
The official investigation was launched after a police spokesperson confirmed sleeping pills - both prescription medication and non-prescription - were found in the vicinity of the actor's body.

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Scott Hurley: Black Uhlans motorcycle gang

Scott Hurley, 37, of Sunshine, appeared at an out-of-sessions hearing on Friday, charged with four counts of trafficking, four counts of possessing a drug of dependence and one count each of handling stolen goods, cultivating a drug of dependence and possessing proceeds of crime. He was bailed to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on March 27.
Police sources said that Hurley was one of five Black Uhlans motorcycle gang members investigated for the alleged rape of a 19-year-old woman in a Lakes Entrance motel.
A police spokesman could not confirm last night whether any charges had been laid against Mr Hurley or the other four men over the alleged rape.
When Sexual Crimes Squad members arrived at Lakes Entrance to investigate the rape last February, three of the bikies denied that a sexual assault had taken place, while two declined to talk to police.
But detectives soon established that Hurley was an associate member of the Black Uhlans and worked for the Victoria Police Vehicle Examination Unit in Macleod. He is not a sworn police officer but has worked for the unit since he was a teenager.
Hurley continued to work at the forensic unit until his arrest on the drug charges on Friday following a lengthy investigation by the police force's internal investigators, the Ethical Standards Department.
He was questioned about trafficking of cocaine, amphetamines, cannabis and ecstasy before being charged.The VEU is an arm of the forensic science centre and examines vehicles thought to be stolen or "rebirthed". As an employee, Hurley had access to suspect vehicles.
Detectives are believed to have investigated whether he could have gained unauthorised access to drug-testing laboratories at the complex
Car theft and rebirthing have been identified by law-enforcement agencies as an area that has lured outlaw motorcycle gangs as they expand criminal networks built largely on drugs.
An Australian Crime Commission report recently warned that bikie gangs were becoming "more sophisticated and dynamic", as well as diversifying their criminal activities.
"Such offences include murder, firearms, illicit drugs supply and production, extortion, prostitution, serious assault, sexual assault, arson, robbery, theft, vehicle rebirthing, receiving stolen property, fraud, money laundering, corruption and bribing officials and perverting the course of justice," the report said.
The report said that in 2005-06, 10 outlaw motorcycle gangs opened 26 new chapters in six states and territories. The commission estimates that 35 gangs operate in Australia with a core of 3500 full members — with many more associates, nominees and prospective members.
Six years ago police smashed a fake transport licence racket involving a senior employee of VicRoads, who was selling licences to members of the Outlaws motorcycle gang.

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Biker crime gang

After lengthy surveillance, police claim to have smashed a biker crime gang in the Hills and Hawkesbury areas allegedly responsible for the large-scale manufacturer of amphetamines. The drugs were distribution along the entire eastern seaboard of Australia.
Five members or associates of outlaw motorcycle gangs have been charged with drug offences following the joint operation in Sydney's North-West.
It follows a five-month investigation by the Australian Crime Commission and the NSW Police Forces State Crime Command Drug Squad of a semi-rural address at Annangrove raided on Wednesday morning where an alleged large-scale drug manufacturing laboratory was uncovered.
During the searches, police claim they located another suspected clandestine laboratory, chemicals and drug manufacturing equipment as well as more than $130,000 in cash, two shotguns, a handgun and a quantity of ammunition. A 43-year-old man was initially arrested but four others were arrested later at separate addresses from Winston Hills to Vineyard.
As a result of yesterday's operation, police have charged four men, aged 50, 48, 27 and 57, with manufacturing a commercial quantity of prohibited drug and possessing precursor intended for manufacture/production. They were all refused bail to appear in Parramatta Local Court today.
The man, 43, has been charged with two counts of possessing a prohibited drug, possession of instructions for the manufacture of prohibited drugs and firearms offences, including possession of an unregistered firearm. He was conditionally bailed to appear in Parramatta Local Court on February 14.

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Luke Sparos, Alen Moradian, Matthew Piesley,Jason Johnson, Johnny Youkhana,

Luke Sparos is charged with Alen Moradian, Matthew Piesley, Jason Johnson and Johnny Youkhana over an alleged conspiracy to supply a commercial quantity of cocaine.
Police seized $19 million in assets including $10 million in cash found in the roof of Piesley's house and an arsenal of firearms including a gold-coated pistol.

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Holly Deane-Johns

Holly Deane-Johns is expected to return home to Perth this week.
Deane-Johns has spent seven years of a 31-year sentence in a Thai prison for trying to send 10 grams of heroin in the mail to Australia.
The Thai government and authorities in Australia recently agreed to allow her to serve out the rest of her time in a Western Australia jail.

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man, allegedly carrying $24,000, was arrested in Adelaide

Seven people have been arrested in South Australia and New South Wales in an operation which police say has cracked a major drug syndicate.
Detectives seized cocaine and methamphetamine, also known as ice, from a suitcase which arrived on a flight to Adelaide yesterday.
Three people aboard the flight were arrested.
A fourth man, allegedly carrying $24,000, was arrested later in Adelaide.
A further three people were arrested in Sydney after overnight police raids netted more illegal drugs, guns and steroids.

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