Flickr, iCloud and Google Drive: What to do if your phone fills up with photos

What do you do when you can’t take any more photos? Source: AP

 

Shoot enough photos and videos, and your phone will eventually fill up.

It isn’t always possible to add storage, and it isn’t easy to move your vast collection elsewhere to free up space. New services from Yahoo and Apple can help by automatically moving your photos and videos online.

Yahoo’s Flickr

Flickr offers virtually unlimited online storage for free — 1 terabyte, or as Yahoo puts it, about five photos a day for the next 60 years. New tools from Yahoo automate image transfers.

With Flickr’s app for iPhones, iPads and Android devices, old and new images alike are automatically copied to your online account, so you can delete the original files from your phone. You’ll still be able to edit and share images through Flickr’s app, and you can retrieve the originals anytime.

Meanwhile, Flickr’s software for Mac and Windows computers will continually scan and upload images, including ones you add later.

Flickr is probably the widest known online photo service. Source: Supplied

 

Regardless of the source, all photos and videos are viewable in one collection through a Web browser or Flickr’s mobile app. The newest images are on top, but you can use Flickr’s smart sorting tools under its “Magic View.” Software analyses and categorises images based on what’s in them, such as food and flowers. A search tool lets you filter by such attributes as colours in the picture and the image’s orientation.

To free up space, you need to delete files from your phone after getting them to Flickr, which means keeping track of which ones have already been transferred. Also, while Flickr can categorise people shots based on whether they contain kids or groups, it doesn’t do face detection. You can’t pull up photos of just your mum or your best friend.

Flickr is still rolling out the features to all of its users. I’ve encountered some hiccups, including videos not uploading consistently.

And after a few days, Flickr still hasn’t finished transferring all of my photos. If your collection is sizeable like mine, it can take days or weeks.

Get Flickr’s app from your phone’s app store. Go here to download if you have a Mac and here for Windows.

Apple’s iCloud Photo Library

This is Apple’s way of unifying your photo collection online. It works with Apple’s Photos app for organising and editing those images on Mac and mobile devices.

Apple keeps a full-resolution version online while downgrading what’s on your device when space is low. You get the original back when you need it. Otherwise, it’s not taking up as much space. All this is automatic, so you don’t need to mess with deleting originals and potentially deleting the wrong ones.

You’re limited to transferring images from Apple devices — iPhones, iPads and Macs — though you can view them through a Windows Web browser. You’re charged for storage once you hit 5 gigabytes, or roughly 3,000 photos. It costs 99 cents a month for 20 gigabytes, though you might need more if your phone is already full.

Steve Jobs introduced iCloud in 2011. Source: AP

 

Unlike Flickr, Apple can sort images based on specific individuals in them, though it doesn’t do object recognition, such as automatically identifying a dog in a picture. Unlike Flickr, Apple can handle RAW file formats favoured by many professionals with high-end cameras. It’s not an issue, though, if you’re just shooting with the phone (unless you have LG’s upcoming G4 phone, which can shoot in RAW).

The online photo feature is built into the Photos apps that come with Mac and iOS operating systems. There’s no separate download once you have the latest system updates. Just turn the feature on when prompted.

The rest

With Google’s Auto Backup and Amazon’s Cloud Drive, automatic transfers are limited to Apple and Android phones — not PCs.

Google offers free unlimited storage in a reduced resolution. Otherwise, full-resolution images count toward a free allotment shared with Gmail and other Google services. Amazon’s Cloud Drive with unlimited photo storage is $12 a year — waived for members of its $99-a-year Prime service. It’s $60 a year if you want unlimited videos, too.

With all of these services, images are kept private — for your eyes only — until you specify otherwise.

Flickr is the only one that’s truly free and compatible with multiple systems. But if you have an Apple device and don’t mind paying, iCloud Photo Library is the easier one to use.

news.com.au  14 May 2015

It's quite amazing that in this entire article, it was not mentioned that as a priority one could save one's  photos to one's computer, a service that does not cost $12/60/99 per year.

Saving your photos to your computer assures you that they stay safe(r) and are NOT used by corporations.

One could almost be of the opinion that the article could have been written by a 'government' metadata 'cop' in support of you putting ALL your information for corporations to obtain and use for whatever purpose they see fit.

One would not dare have such an opinion of the 'responsible' Australian government, otherwise one would be classified a terrorist, based on 'conspiracy theories' or even pigeonholed as a 'tin foil hatter'.

Was this article deliberately written (for the not too tech savvy) to omit the fact that you can save your data to a local device? 

Note: It IS actually easier AND quicker to move your photo collection when connected to your PC via USB/USB3 speeds than to upload via 3G/4G speeds via the telco's  GSM network.

Judges' son may avoid jail over upskirting

A son of a prominent NSW legal family is expected to avoid jail for filming up his students' skirts. Source: AAP

 

A FORMER teacher and son of a prominent NSW legal family is expected to avoid jail for filming up his students' skirts, as a judge accepted he would face "a hard time" locked up. 

ROBERT Arthur Emmett, 38, will instead be assessed as to whether he can serve a sentence - totalling no more than two years - in the community.

Emmett, the son of two judges and descendent of several chief justices, faced a Sydney court on Friday after pleading guilty to filming up the skirts of three 14-year-old students in March 2013 while a teacher at St Andrew's Cathedral School.

The recordings were found on Emmett's phone following his arrest in August 2013 at Town Hall station after he was caught filming up a 22-year-old woman's skirt.

He had been on his knee, pretending to tie his shoe, and tried to flee on a passing train, the court heard. He later pleaded guilty to possessing child abuse material after, according to a statement of facts, police found thousands of images and hundreds of videos on a portable hard drive, including 10 deemed to be in the worst category.

At his sentencing hearing at Downing Centre District Court, Judge Ian McClintock said Emmett's offences warranted a custodial sentence of two years or less.

He said secretly filming up students' skirts entailed a "significant breach of trust and authority" and a violation of their trust.

He accepted that Emmett, a timid man with prominent judicial links, would "face a hard time in prison" and appeared genuinely remorseful.

He accepted expert evidence from Emmett's psychiatrist, Dr Bruce Westmore, that his offending had been prompted by psychosexual problems, including "complex paraphilia", that were improving with intensive treatment.

"His prospects of rehabilitation are high," Judge McClintock said.

He added that Emmett had already endured "a significant degree of humiliation" in addition to losing his teaching career.

Given he would impose a sentence of less than two years, Judge McClintock ordered Emmett to be appraised for an intensive corrections order, with the case to return to court in July.

If granted, it will allow him to serve his sentence in the community, under close supervision.

news.com.au  15 May 2015

This is how the corrupt 'brotherhood' takes care of its own.

Another corrupt judge to add to the list.

Realistically the 'list' should be started with all the judges on it and work backwards on who are the 'good' ones.

Showing the 'serfs' who rules the new age administrative Prison Isle.

Judges let paedophiles loose and house them near primary schools.

This is how 'justice' in Australia works, only if you're supported by the corrupt brotherhood.

And the government supports this kind of criminal activity???

The US Consulate in Melbourne warns terror attack in Australia is ‘likely’

The US has issued a warning to its citizens in Victoria. Source: AFP

 

THE US Consulate in Melbourne has warned it’s citizens in Victoria and around the country to be on high alert, declaring a terror attack on Australian soil was “likely”. 

It’s the first time this century that the consulate has issued such a warning, and said it reflected the heightened security level of the Australian government.

The alert comes in the wake of a number of terror related arrests in the state. Last month, a 17-year-old was charged on suspicion of carrying out a terror plot on Mother’s day. The police operation came just weeks after a separate incident where an 18-year-old Melbourne man was charged when police uncovered plans for an “ISIS inspired” terror attack on Anzac Day.

Due to the nature of the ongoing threat, US consulate is compelling its citizens to “maintain a high level of vigilance” and to “take appropriate steps” to enhance their personal security.

“U.S. citizens are strongly encouraged to review your personal security plan, remain aware of your surroundings including local events, and monitor local news stations for updates.” the alert says.

The warning comes as the court date has been set for a 14-year-old British boy who is facing terror charges for his involvement in the Anzac Day terror plans. The boy has been charged with two counts of inciting another to commit an act of terror. It is alleged he recruited the 18-year-old Melbourne man and had incited him to behead strangers in the name of IS.

A spokesperson for the US Embassy in Canberra told The Australian yesterday that all overseas missions were mandated by US law to share information that impacts on the American expatriate community.

The US consulate also urged its citizens living in Australia to enrol in the Department of State’s Smart Traveller Enrolment Program. The program allows subscribers to receive security updates and “makes it easier” for the consulate to contact its citizens.

news.com.au 15 May 2015

From the article: 
"The US has issued a warning to its citizens in Victoria."
 
 As a side note Victoria is a state of Australia, where its people are subjects of the Queen, and the laws of England apply, where this is confirmed in ANY court case where R v .... appears on the list.

The term citizen applies to people who are part of a republic.

It may be viewed by some that since the 'Commonwealth of Australia' is registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Australia is owned by the US.

How interesting that the US authorities are 'predicting' an attack on Aussie sold and not the Australian intelligence organisations.

It would be very interesting to see what outcome would occur (in law) from an alleged attack, the authorities saved the general populous from, or who would attack on which next significant event.

Only time will tell.

As a side note, the Port Arthur massacre was carried out (in Tasmania) by an alleged gunman, Martin Bryant, with sniper skills, where 35 people were killed, together with another 23 being injured, by the person with an I.Q. of approximately 70.

As a result of the massacre in Tasmania, the government pushed (law abiding) Victorians (and not the criminals) into hand in in their weapons.

Serf - how the authorities classify ALL Australians

There is a term that can describe ALL 'Australians' living on the land / continent.

Not many people would be aware of this term, or even comprehend what it really means.

• Are you born on the land of Australia after 1933?

• Do you have a 'birth certificate'?

• Are you an 'Australian citizen'?

A 'yes' to any of the above questions, and you are in fact a corporate slave.

You are an entity 'owned' by different 'stakeholders' from a document called the your birth certificate, where you are owned by the state where you are 'registered' in.

A term that describes your enslavement, and how you are viewed by the 'government' (read corporation conglomerate), the so called 'authorities' and how the courts or judicature view your measly existence can be described in one easy word, a serf.

The illustration above, from Black's Law Dictionary Second Edition (1910), contains the words:

SERF. In the feudal polity, the serfs, were a class of persons whose social condition was servile, and who were bound to labor and onerous duties at the will of their lords. They differed from slaves only in that they were bound to their native soil, instead of being the absolute property of a master.

The better the people can comprehend the situation they're in, the better they can find a remedy to their woes.

Can police successfully prosecute speeding motorist from this photo?

Australia's police 'force' is out in full swing, on the roads policing the 'speed' limit, as apparently their argument is that there are too many deaths on our roads.

What is totally neglected, is other facts of life that are far worse killers, and kill more of our populous than the nation's roads.

Smoking related diseases like cancer, or fast food excess additives like salt kill far more of the masses than any road toll, multiplied by six, or even more.

As an example, a health study reports that excess salt in people's diet kills six times more Victorians than their road toll.

See article:

http://corpau.blogspot.com.au/2015/05/salt-kills-almost-six-times-more.html

If the police were really serious about saving 'lives' they would issue infringements out to the corporations that created these cancers.

But,

the real question is can police lawfully issue an infringement notice for an alleged offence of travelling over the 'speed limit'.

From the illustration above it looks like the "Speeding Gods" were on the side of this traveler, where an alleged speed of nearly 181km/h was reached, on a Victorian road?

Every single day thousands of Australian motorists are snapped by speed or red light cameras where they are then issued an 'infringement notice', without one lawful action taking place in the ENTIRE process.

The alleged evidence is all based on hearsay, where even the photos are not original, but modified.

An extortion racket is in play every single day of the Australian motoring public's lives with only but a minute fraction comprehending this nationwide fraud, and challenging, and winning, where these 'facts' are not reported by the mainstream media.

We welcome this information to be commented on by Victoria Police via the public forum, facebook, in the comments section below the posted article, on how to obtain a successful prosecution, from the above illustration.

Salt kills almost six times more Victorians than road accidents, VicHealth says

Charlie, 4, gives salt the flick. Picture: Alex Coppel 

 

SLASHING the amount of salt each Victorian consumes by just half a teaspoon a day could help save 800 lives statewide and shave $50 million a year off the health bill. 

Almost six times more Victorians die as a result of high salt intake than on the roads, a staggering statistic that needed to change, according to the state’s peak health group.

VicHealth has released a new State of Salt report aimed at helping Australia reach its commitment to reducing salt intake by 30 per cent by 2025 to meet the World Health Organisation global target.

Currently, Victorians consume on average eight grams of salt a day — which is almost two teaspoons — putting them at risk of a range of health problems.

VicHealth said a reduction of three grams a day to bring average consumption to five grams, or one teaspoon, would help reduce people’s risk of suffering stroke, heart disease and chronic kidney disease.

Its CEO, Jerril Rechter, said Victorians were eating more than 15,000 tonnes of salt a year, which equates to almost twice the upper recommended intake limit.

Charlie’s mum Alice Pryor, with sister Annabel, nine months. Picture: Alex Coppel 

 

“Almost one in 20 deaths in Victoria is attributable to salt intake,” she said.

Reducing salt intake was 200 times more cost-effective than giving people high blood pressure medication, Ms Rechter said.

VicHealth has launched a plan of action that will involve governments, the food industry, health and non-government groups working together to take steps that include increasing knowledge about invisible salt and reducing salt in food processing.

Ms Rechter said three-quarters of the salt in our diet came from processed foods.

Slashing the intake of salty foods such as processed meats, chips, packet soups, sauces, pizzas and ready-made meals, eating more fresh fruit and vegetables, taking the salt shaker off the table and using herbs, garlic and pepper to season food can all help reduce salt intake.

With a family history of high blood pressure and heart disease mother of two Alice Pryor, is fastidious about ensuring her family have low levels of salt consumption.

Ms Pryor, 30, who is also the campaign manager for the Parents’ Jury, said she does not add salt to their home-cooked meals and always reads the labelling on packaged goods.

“If you can have an option, in pasta sauce or beans, that is no added salt or reduced salt, then I go for that,” she said.

heraldsun.com.au  13 May 2015

So next time you get stopped by the police for 'speeding' and they tell you how much they care about the deaths of Victorians, tell them to do a salinity test on you.

The police NEVER cared about the road toll, but that is used as an excuse to generate revenue.

The government is NOT in business for caring to their serfs, but rather extorting as much money as possible.

Vic policeman charged with drink driving

A VICTORIAN policeman has been charged with drink driving almost a year after a car crash in Melbourne's outer east. 
 
THE sergeant, who had a specialist role, was off-duty when the crash occurred in Chirnside Park in June last year.

He has been suspended without pay and will appear at Ringwood Magistrates Court on September 11.

news.com.au 12 May 2015

Another piece of garbage corrupt cop busted!

This is how the corporate media report it.

No name, No photo.

Are they protecting him?

Why not name and shame the person?

Scandalous 20-year cover-up of abuse of disabled in Mornington Peninsula state-run home

Whistleblower reveals abuses in state-run care

Julie Sullivan knew something was wrong as soon as she began working at a Community Residential Unit on the Mornington Peninsula in 1989.

 
Some of Victoria's most profoundly disabled people were subject to six years of abuse in a state-run home, including a suspected rape, assault, unlawful restraint, denial of medical care and regular soap suppositories.
Documents obtained by Fairfax Media reveal a 20-year cover-up by respective state governments over the scandal at the Department of Human Service's care house on the Mornington Peninsula.

Speaking out: A 20-year-old cover-up has implications for recent cases of disabled abuse.

The revelations come as the federal and Victorian parliaments prepare to hold public inquiries into the abuse of disabled people in residential care and as the state Ombudsman investigates Yooralla over its failure to protect clients from serious sexual assaults by male carers.

The Mornington Peninsula house, which remains in operation today, cared for five severely disabled adults who under laws at the time were made wards of the state.

Serious concerns about the treatment of residents were first upheld in a secret government investigation in 1989. A panel of inquiry found medications were not being properly administered to residents, the inappropriate use of mechanical restraints and the likely hitting or slapping of residents under a practice known as "aversion therapy".

The residents, who were unable to speak or defend themselves, were found to have been given soap suppositories by untrained staff in what the panel of inquiry deemed not an "appropriate nursing practice" and one which could cause "perforation of the anus".

But the senior staff responsible for the appalling treatment of residents remained in place for a further six years.

It was only the suspected rape of a severely disabled female resident in 1995 by a male carer that triggered departmental intervention and disciplinary action against key staff who were the subject of complaints first made in 1989.

A 1995 review of the Mornington Peninsula house found the residents had been denied medical treatment and that the young woman who was attacked by her carer had been suffering obvious bruising on her arms, chest and groin for five weeks before any action was taken.

Despite being suspected of rape, the male carer was charged with unlawful assault and reckless intentional injury. This was because forensic evidence was not taken from the woman until almost 48 hours after her attack and because she her disability made it impossible for her testify.

While conditions at the Mornington Peninsula house are believed to have improved, the abuse of disabled people in state care remains a regular occurrence. In 2012, Fairfax Media revealed the department had 112 cases of serious alleged "staff to client abuse".

The tragic story of what happened at the Mornington Peninsula house is found in the hundreds of pages of government documents gathered by departmental whistle-blower Julie Sullivan, who first tried to expose the mistreatment of the residents in 1989.

Ms Sullivan is preparing a submission about the Mornington Peninsula house and the department's treatment of her as a whistle blower to present to the upcoming federal senate inquiry.

The documents provide a rare insight into the treatment of disabled Victorians in the 1980s and 1990s and reveal high-level manipulation of the initial panel of inquiry into abuse allegations in order to avoid "adverse comment" should the scandal be made public.

smh.com.au 11 Apr 2015

More corruption and child abuse in the hands of the 'authorities'.
 

The girls lift their skirts up and put men’s hands underneath

Disturbing and disappointing ... Jesinta Campbell has lifted the lid on what some women will do to attract the attention of an elite sports star.

The 23-year-old model was participating in a broad-ranging discussion with Sex Discrimination.

Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick and Australian Women’s Weekly editor Helen McCabe about domestic violence when she was asked if she was alarmed by the kind of behaviour she had seen from footballers interacting with female fans.

“With my experience of Lance obviously, he’s such a gentleman, he’s the man that’s going to be my husband. I haven’t seen anything with him,” she said.

“But with other men I’ve definitely seen it — and the most shocking thing for me is the way young women or women in general act around these sports stars.”

“I have seen things in clubs that would make mothers’ skin crawl. I’ve seen girls lift skirts up and put men’s hands under their skirts.”

Gonna get married ... Jesinta Campbell revealed she was in a relationship with Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin in an October 2013 Instagram post. Picture: Instagram

 

Campbell emphasised that the seedy behaviour she witnessed was before she was with Franklin, when she was out on the club scene in Melbourne.

“You see a lot and it’s almost like they will do anything to have the glory of being with a footballer,” she said, before asking: “How do we change that?”

Campbell asserted that some footballers also needed to change some of their behaviours.

“When a message comes through of a girl, showing it around to their mates or whatever ... that’s actually not OK ... there needs to be a cultural shift,” she said.

Ms Broderick concurred, saying “powerful, decent men” had an integral role to play in terms of shifting attitudes.

No problem ... Jesinta Campbell says Buddy is a ‘perfect gentleman’. Picture: Instagram

 

“When they stand up and speak out about violence against women, against that sort of behaviour, that will have an impact. People will listen,” Ms Broderick said.

Campbell’s revelations echo some of the ideas expressed in a 2006 documentary, Footy Chicks, which looked in part at a group of women who pursued football players as sexual conquests.

That documentary also explored more disturbing territory, relating the stories of women who had been sexually assaulted or forced into unwanted sexual situations by footballers.

Originally published as ‘Enough to make a mother’s skin crawl’



 heraldsun.com.au 2 April 2015

Who really cares about another Occupation Whore.
 

 Trailer Park Trash at its finest.

Sacked AFP officer: 'We lie to members of the community on a daily basis'

A sacked Australian Federal Police officer who said the AFP lied to members of the community on a daily basis has lost his legal battle to get his job back.

In 2013 the AFP sacked Elias Farah because it considered him a high threat to the law enforcement organisation and a significant risk to its operational security after the agency uncovered a string of code of conduct breaches.

Farah, who worked in the ACT and Sydney during a 10-year career, had already been suspended with and without pay since in October 2012. 

The Fair Work Commission found, on balance, the dismissal was not harsh, unjust or unreasonable.

Farah's misconduct included sending personal mail from his father in Australia to his uncle in Lebanon via an Australian government diplomatic bag.

Although Farah said he did this inadvertently because he did not know how the AFP's internal mail system worked, Fair Work Commissioner Helen Cargill said in her decision it displayed a "total lack of appreciation for the distinction between the personal and the professional".

Other code of conduct breaches upheld by the commission included agreeing to provide AFP information to acquaintances between July 2008 and November 2009.

Once, after a request from a family friend, Farah asked a NSW Police contact to find out the owner of a registration number involved in a traffic incident.

The NSW Police contact never gave Farah the details.

"Whether it was for the purpose of testing the driver for drugs and/or alcohol or because there was a complaint about the supposed tardiness of the NSW Police or indeed for some other unsavoury intention of his friend as suggested by the respondent, there was no legitimate reason for the applicant's inquiry," Commissioner Cargill said.   

Farah used the AFP computer system to look up the publicly-available Australian electoral roll for a female friend who wanted him to help her research the "subject of her dreams".

And on a third occasion he told a "friend of a friend" he would access a brief of evidence relating to a particular legal matter but made no attempt to do it.

When asked why he told this acquaintance he would source the information, the Fair Work Commission para-phrased Farah's response as ​'we lie to members of the community on a daily basis in the AFP'.

Farah said such requests were received by him from members of the community on an almost daily basis.

While he considered such requests part of his role in the community liaison team, Commissioner Cargill said Farah had shown "a troubling lack of judgement" which reflected poorly on the integrity and good reputation of the AFP.

In 2008 and 2009 he prepared and provided a series of references and testimonials for friends and acquaintances on AFP letterhead without authorisation.

Two were for court-related purposes while a third was to help someone obtain a security licence and was addressed to the Victorian Police licensing services division.

"Provision of personal references on official letterhead has real potential to affect the reputation of the AFP which is no doubt why prior authorisation is required," Commissioner Cargill said.

"The applicant's failure to even consider the possibility that there might be a guideline or policy on the subject of providing references is in itself a concern."

The commission did not agree with the AFP that Farah deliberately over-inflated information about human sources he had recruited during professional development assessments.

Instead the commission found it was a misunderstanding regarding terminology.

theage.com.au 7 May 2015

Once again the corruption of the police 'force' is being exposed, where realistically the slate needs to wiped clean!

Australia's police force is one of the country's largest organised crime networks.

Why the AFP (Australian Federal Police) should be charged with relation to the Bali 9 executions

There has been a lot written by the corporate media with respect to the executions of two Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in the "Bali 9" drug smuggling ring, with many opinions being very polarised on social media as a result.

Many people have reacted with emotion and vowed not to travel to Bali for vacations, some have supported Indonesia's death penalty, while others have condemned the action.

In all of this kerfuffle, the media spotlight shone away from the AFP (Australian Federal Police) and their involvement that led to the executions of the two Australians.

Quite simply put the Australian Federal Police aided and abetted in criminal activity and they should be charged.

From a legal perspective, from the Criminal Code Act (1995),

Section 11.2 Complicity and common purpose

(1) A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the commission
of an offence by another person is taken to have committed
that offence and is punishable accordingly.
 
(2) For the person to be guilty:
(a) the person’s conduct must have in fact aided, abetted,
counselled or procured the commission of the offence by the
other person; and
(b) the offence must have been committed by the other person.
 
(3) For the person to be guilty, the person must have intended that:
(a) his or her conduct would aid, abet, counsel or procure the
commission of any offence (including its fault elements) of
the type the other person committed; or
(b) his or her conduct would aid, abet, counsel or procure the
commission of an offence and have been reckless about the
commission of the offence (including its fault elements) that
the other person in fact committed.

Ref: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Series/C2004A04868


There is no doubt that the AFP have committed a 'criminal offence', but who will take that to task?

See also articles: 

The Australian Federal Police abandoned informer

Sacked AFP officer: 'We lie to members of the community on a daily basis'

 

The Australian Federal Police abandoned informer

This is what happens when you deal with the police in Australia, remembering that they are not your friends, nor 'public servants', just criminals with guns.

From the Sydney Morning Herald article:

Before the Bali nine's arrest, Mick Keelty and the AFP sent a furniture salesman on a secret high-risk drug sting in Indonesia 

 

International drug dealers approached furniture importer 'John Mansfield' about using his containers to smuggle millions of dollars worth of ephedrine into Australia. Photo: Luis Ascui
 

A furniture importer has revealed how the Australian Federal Police abandoned him in Indonesia after convincing him to go undercover in a high-risk sting targeting an international drug-smuggling syndicate.

Before its role in the arrests of the Bali nine in Indonesia, the AFP persuaded John Mansfield* to become the sole civilian participant in a "controlled operation" that was authorised in writing by then commissioner Mick Keelty. The aim of the covert mission was to travel undercover to Indonesia and bring down a drug-trafficking cartel. But what followed was a bungled exercise that left an ordinary Australian citizen at the mercy of a dangerous and "increasingly paranoid" police target, while in possession of a million-dollar consignment of illegal drugs in a country that applies the death penalty.

Mr Mansfield said: "At the beginning, they told me my safety was paramount and I would receive the same high-level protection that is afforded to their own officers. But what they actually did was expose me to their own inefficiencies ... they left me high and dry in a foreign land. They treated me like a throw-away."

Former federal police commissioner Mick Keelty. Photo: Penny Bradfield
 

In 2002, a drug figure approached Mr Mansfield with a plan to use his sea containers to smuggle large scale quantities of ephedrine – a vital precursor chemical in amphetamines – into Australia.

He reported it to the Northern Territory Police. They forwarded the intelligence on to the AFP who, headed by the same leadership involved in the Bali Nine's fate, convinced Mr Mansfield to be the frontman in a major sting.

"They asked: 'will you go ahead with it?' I said 'yes' because it was the AFP. It became the single most stupid mistake of my life."

In official AFP documents, Mr Mansfield became known as "Human Source 50560".

He said: "During the operation's early stages in Darwin, they would meet me in public parking lots at midnight. They provided me with old cars and had me drive different routes to the police station where, occasionally, I was wired up. It was like something out of the movies ... yet I felt from the start that I was dealing with individuals who were making it up as they went along."

The AFP files confirm that, on August 27 that year, a Sydney-based bouncer, Adam Mathew Blake, flew to Indonesia and purchased 20 kilograms of ephedrine. After crushing those drugs down into powder, he delivered the consignment to Mr Mansfield who had taken up position in an apartment in Yogyakarta.

What the AFP documents don't state is that in the crucial days leading up to the container's departure, the furniture salesman was left stranded with two barrels of illicit drugs in his lounge room and an erratic criminal figure, often high on drugs, shadowing his every move.

"The day before the shipment was due to leave, we were at a cafe in a tourist precinct ... and he spotted what he thought was someone photographing us," said Mr Mansfield. "He accused me of engineering a set-up. He wanted to kill me. I thought I was going to die."

The same day, Mr Mansfield received a bombshell from the Jakarta-based AFP officer with whom he had been liaising by phone almost daily.

"The plan had been for him to fly to Yogyakarta and observe events on the day the container was to be packed, in case anything went wrong for me. But he called and said words to the effect of, 'I am sorry. Something has come up, I can't get there'."

Mr Mansfield described his anguish as two huge plastic barrels of white powder, sealed with glue, were later loaded alongside the wooden furniture on board his container. "The AFP had left me alone to tie up loose ends. The madman who had threatened to murder me 24 hours earlier was watching my every move from a nearby car. I was anxious and on the brink of unravelling ... the police even had me take incriminating photos of the drugs, as evidence, and bring those back through customs ... with no support whatsoever at the airport."

Mr Mansfield confirms that despite a substantial deposit paid by the syndicate when he returned to Australia, nobody stepped forward to collect the drugs once they had docked. And while Blake later pleaded guilty to importing them and in 2003 served a six-month jail term, nobody else was brought to justice. In 2005, a Northern Territory Supreme Court acquitted a Darwin man of being the mastermind behind the operation. The AFP claimed Phillip Douglas Primmer had hired Blake to import the drugs from Indonesia. But after a trial that featured three weeks of evidence and 10 witnesses, a jury found Mr Primmer not guilty.

"I received no thank you. No apology. There was no debriefing. The AFP didn't even protect me in court," said Mr Mansfield, who points out that after being publicly "identified and outed" as an informant and witness in Blake's trial, he was threatened again, and had to flee interstate.

He points out that  before Blake's court case, nothing had existed in writing – except reams of emails linking him to underworld figures and a pending drug deal. "The AFP exposed the Bali Nine to the death penalty. Had I been caught with those drugs in Indonesia, I firmly believe they would have cut me loose too."

An AFP spokesperson said the investigation and involvement of the civilian had been supported by the Indonesian National Police as it "progressed."

She confirmed the AFP's Senior Liaison Officer had not made it to Yogjakarta during operational activity as planned because "competing priorities demanded his presence elsewhere".

"The risk to the man...was assessed and considered to be low," she said.

She said AFP records show the civilian gave "consent" to his identity being made public in later court proceedings.

While the AFP's professional standards area received a complaint in late 2005 about AFP members involved in the case, it was "fully and independently investigated and all of the allegations were unsubstantiated."

*not his real name

smh.com.au  10 May 2015