Government’s data retention bill passes House of Representatives

What opposition party? Source: News Corp Australia

 

EVERY call you make. Every email you send. They’ll be watching you. 

The government’s controversial data retention laws have officially passed the House of Representatives, with all but three MPs voting in favour of the bill.

It was revealed earlier today that Labor would be siding with the Coalition after the two parties worked together to make amendments to the bill, with most of those revolving around journalists.

The deal will create a public interest advocate to assess warrants for the metadata of journalists.

The advocate will be able to make submissions in response to applications for warrants on matters of public interest.

It’s understood the advocate will be a senior barrister and appointed by the prime minister.

The government has also agreed to a presumption against issuing a warrant, meaning police or intelligence agencies must meet a higher threshold to get the warrant.

The agency seeking the warrant will also have to demonstrate they have tried to access the information in question by other means.

This is despite the head of parliament’s intelligence committee saying journalists should not be exempt from the new laws - on the off chance they could be paedophiles.

Mr Tehan said his committee had been wary of making specific groups such as journalists exempt from metadata retention.

“For instance what happens if a journalist is a paedophile?” Mr Tehan told AAP.

“Are you telling me that there has been no journalist in the history of journalism who has ever committed a serious crime?” Mr Tehan acknowledged all the journalists he knew were “very good, honest hardworking decent people”.

These men want your data. Source: News Corp Australia

 

What data will they keep?

It’s called metadata. When it comes to phone calls, metadata is mostly just a record of who you call and for how long.

But when it comes to the internet, a lot more is stored:
● Every email you send, to whom, at what time, where you sent it from and the subject of it;
● The location you took a photo, the settings you took the picture with and the camera model;
● All the information you post about yourself on social media plus when, where and how long you were logged in for;
● What you searched for on Google, the results that appeared and the sites you eventually clicked on;
● The web pages you visit, when you visited those pages, hardware details about your computer and even login details if you use auto-fill password features.

Metadata can already be accessed without a warrant for criminal and intelligence investigations, but monitoring of internet or telephone use over a period of time requires a warrant from the Attorney-General.

Attorney-General George Brandis, the person leading the bill. Source: AAP

 

Why are they keeping it?

The government says the new measures are all in the name of protecting the country from terror threats, and are a response to the increase in Australian jihadists fighting overseas.

The United Kingdom adopted similar data retention laws last year following advice from MI6 about an increased terror threat in Europe.

Despite that, earlier this week, Edward Snowden warned that data retention won’t stop terrorist attacks. He referenced both the Sydney siege and Charlie Hedbo attacks, noting that the attackers in both incidents were known to governments already.

“They’re not going to stop the next attacks either,” he said. “Because they’re not public safety programs. They’re spying programs.”

“But the question that we as a society have to ask, our are collective rights worth a small advantage in our ability to spy?” Snowden added.

Cartoonist: John Farmer (Polly). Source: Supplied

 

What are the risks?

Under the new laws, our privacy becomes a thing of the past. Not just from the government either - experts and insiders warn that our data could become vulnerable to hackers. Even Telstra has labelled the storage of the data as a “honey pot for hackers.”

Speaking on Radio National’s Download This Show earlier this year, one police insider revealed the flaws in the proposed system.

The insider, whose identity wasn’t revealed, has worked for the police dealing with metadata for years.

“There are only three different justifications (where) we have to access metadata; if someone’s life is being threatened, protection of government income, and (an) investigation of a crime punishable with at least two years in prison,” he said.

However, crimes punishable by two years’ jail can be for things as small as graffiti, meaning that more often than not, those investigating a criminal case will have access to metadata.

Game of Thrones pirate? You could become a target. Source: YouTube

 

There’s also the concern that the new laws could be used to monitor users’ internet habits to find people pirating content.

The insider confirmed that as it currently stands, the laws wouldn’t allow it, but that could change in the future.

“[Pirating] is not interpreted by police at the moment as a crime. Copyright infringement is not a criminal offence, it’s a civil wrong. But all it would take would be lobbying by a financial backer of a political parties to make copyright seen as theft and then bang, you’ve got all these Aussies caught up criminally,” he said.
Of course, this bill still has to pass the Senate.

news.com.au 19 Mar 2015

The corporate media forgot to mention one small detail: "Government’s data retention bill passes House of Representatives (unlawfully)."

ALL persons in the pictured supplied photos are Australia's corporate criminal elite.

In office unlawfully , making law unlawfully.

They just have to be exposed, with the correct documentation in a public forum - a place of business / trading / commerce (commonly known as a court), irrespective of how corrupt the magistrates' judges or judicial clerks are.

Peru’s Mashco-Piru tribe are one of the last isolated peoples on Earth

The Madre de Dios reserve in the Amazon jungle is home to some of the last isolated peoples on Earth.

 

DRESSED in loincloths and speaking an unknown language, the Mashco-Piro, one of the last isolated peoples on Earth, are increasingly venturing out of their forests in Peru — to the government’s distress. 

Authorities say encroachments on the Amazon rainforest by illegal loggers may be forcing the Mashco-Piro, a tribe of hunter-gatherers, into some of their first recorded contacts with the outside world.
Often the meetings seem friendly enough: Residents of the surrounding area give the Mashco-Piro food, and tourists give them clothing.

But the encounters can also turn violent.

The Mashco-Piro tribe are being forced into contact with the outside world for the first time ever. AFP PHOTO/Diego Cortijo www.uncontactedtribes.org/www.survivalfrance.org.

 

In December, Peruvian authorities evacuated two small villages after some 200 Mashco-Piro attacked them with bows and arrows, killing residents’ livestock and pets and carting off food, pots, pans, machetes and rope.

In 2010, the Mashco-Piro were accused of wounding a teenager with a spear, and in 2012 of killing a local guide with a bamboo-tipped arrow.

Peru’s culture ministry has voiced concern the encounters could be deadly for the Mashco-Piro, too.

Even a seemingly benign gift of clothing has the potential to decimate a people whose immune systems have never been exposed to the diseases of the world beyond their forests.

“They can be very vulnerable to germs carried by others,” said Lorena Prieto, head of the Peruvian culture ministry’s isolated indigenous peoples unit.

The tribe of some 800 people also known as the Cujareno lives in the Madre de Dios reserve along the Brazilian border in southern Peru.

‘Uncontacted Indians' of the Envira, who have never before had any contact with the outside world as they camp close to the border of Peru. AP Photo / Gleison Miranda, Funai

 

Illegal logging and gold mining have destroyed an estimated 55,000 hectares (136,000 acres) of forest in the region, which has the highest output of illegally mined gold in Peru — the largest gold producer in Latin America and fifth-largest in the world.

The Madre de Dios region is home to around 4,000 indigenous people, including two other isolated groups: about 150 Machiguengas and about 300 Nahuas, according to the culture ministry.

The Mashco-Piro sometimes act aggressively toward other indigenous groups when they realise they do not speak their language or see animals they are unfamiliar with, such as dogs.

— Language barrier —

After the December attack on the villages of Monte Salvado and Puerto Nuevo, the indigenous peoples’ federation for the Madre de Dios reserve (FENAMAD) said the Mashco-Piro invasion was “an act of desperation” caused by illegal loggers and drug traffickers invading their land.

FENAMAD also condemned tourist visits to the reserve.

An Amazon indigenous tribe in loincloths make contact with the more westernised Ashaninka people near the Peruvian border. Video source: Funai G1

 

Prieto said the Peruvian government wants to understand why the Mashco-Piro are increasingly venturing into the outside world after actively avoiding contact for centuries.

“It’s possible they’re leaving their territory because of illegal loggers and their attacks, or because new non-isolated indigenous communities are settling around the reserve,” she told AFP.

The government wants to know “why they are leaving the reserve, and if there are sick or wounded whom we need to help,” she said.

The problem is understanding the Mashco-Piro. Their language is unknown to the outside world.

The government is searching for an interpreter among the Yine tribe, who can understand a little of the Mashco-Piros’ language.

They are also searching in Brazil, home to other Mashco-Piro groups, in the hope that one of them may have picked up another language.

But Prieto insisted that the government will not force any encounters with the Mashco-Piro.

“Isolated indigenous peoples have rights protected by the United Nations, including the right to decide to live in isolation, which the state must respect and protect,” she said.

 adelaidenow.com.au 18 Mar 2015

“Isolated indigenous peoples have rights protected by the United Nations, including the right to decide to live in isolation, which the state must respect and protect,”

Not According to Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott:

"what we can't do is endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices".

or even an idea of GENOCIDE as suggested by Australian mining magnate Lang Hancock, (the late) father to Gina Rinehart:

"....I would dope the water up so they were sterile and would breed themselves out in the future and that would solve the problem."

Australia, a country for the criminal elite.

Attorney-General John Rau to give police new powers for on-the-spot scans

Refusing a police request for an on-the-spot fingerprinting could lead to a $1250 fine or three months in jail. Source: News Limited

 

ANYONE who refuses a police request for an on-the-spot fingerprint scan will face up to three months’ prison or a fine of up to $1250 under a move to expand their use. 

Attorney-General John Rau is pushing ahead with an election promise to give police the new powers, but their use will not be random and strict criteria must be met before any scan is conducted.

Senior police have welcomed the expansion of their use, which has already resulted in several arrests for outstanding warrants during a trial, while the Law Society has expressed concerns over privacy.

Mr Rau said that under existing laws, police have limited powers and currently only use the fingerprint scanners once they have arrested a person.’’

Under new legislation set to be released for consultation, before a person can be scanned police have to have “reasonable cause’’ to suspect that person has committed, is committing or is about to commit an offence or may be able to assist in the investigation of an offence.

Police are rolling out 150 portable fingerprint scanners across the state after a trial conducted last year resulted in several people being arrested after being scanned. Their use is saving officers considerable time in verifying the identity of those suspected of wrongdoing and evading police over outstanding warrants.

When tested, a person places their finger or thumb on a sensor pad on the palm-sized device.

If a hit is returned the scanner will display a photograph of the person, a list of current or prior offences and any outstanding warrants.

Mr Rau said in the field trial police were able to make arrests instantly.

“This demonstrated that legislative reform is necessary to enable police to use the scanners in wider circumstances, where a person does not have to give consent and police can scan for prints without the need to arrest,” he said.

Law Society president Rocky Perotta said he had “strong concerns about the idea of compelling someone to submit to a fingerprint scan on the spot”.

“Being forced to have a fingerprint scan is a serious intrusion on privacy and should only be justified in extreme cases, which is why the current position only allows authorities to compel a scan after a person has been arrested,’’ he said.

What do you think of the changes? advertiser.com.au

Originally published as Police get power to fingerprint

 

news.com.au 18 March 2015

 

Australia the new Alcatraz, the Prison Isle where the people are the enemy.

 

Still doubt that you are living in a police state?

 

But, white collar criminals STILL reign supreme.

Police officers quit after colleagues cover up cop’s drunken crash in Bendigo

Inspector Ian Geddes says a senior constable facing disciplinary action has left the force because of an unrelated health matter.

 

A THIRD of 21 police embroiled in an attempt to cover up a fellow officer’s drunken crash have left the force. 

The final four officers have now been disciplined.

Inspector Mark Edwards, who had charges of perjury and misleading the OPI dropped against him in February last year, was demoted and is no longer based in Bendigo.

A senior sergeant was placed on a 12-month good-behaviour bond, and a sergeant was fined and also placed on a bond.

VICTORIA POLICE ROCKED BY CRASH COVER-UP

Inspector Ian Geddes said a senior constable who had faced disciplinary action had left the force on a pension for an unrelated health matter.

The only officer to escape discipline was the most senior, a superintendent who was cleared of attempting to pervert the course of justice by ­interfering   with  the  inquiry.

An 18-month integrity probe of Bendigo police was sparked by claims police conspired to derail the original investigation into former Bendigo senior constable Dean Robinson, who crashed his car into Bendigo’s Queens Arms Hotel in November 2011 while drunk.

The extent of the alleged cover-up was revealed in documents released to the Herald Sun under Freedom of Information laws last year.

The Office of Police Integrity reviewed the crash investigation after claims breath-testing Mr Robinson had been delayed beyond the statutory three-hour limit.

He then had a blood-alcohol level of 0.111.

Mr Robinson resigned nine months later. He was fined $7000 and lost his licence for 11 months, with no conviction, after pleading guilty to drink-driving, dangerous driving and failing to stop at an accident.

Other officers were disciplined: a sergeant and a senior public servant were dismissed; two sergeants and two senior constables resigned; three senior constables were placed on good-behaviour bonds; a senior sergeant, a sergeant and a senior constable were admonished; and four senior constables were given guidance.

heraldsun.co.au 3 Mar 2015

More corrupt police acting in am manner that endangers life.

Totally sickening that these pieces of garbage are in charge of 'law enforcement'.

The corporation most commonly known as Victoria Police (ABN: 63 446 481 493) is most probably one of the state's most corrupt organisations.

Victoria has become a refuge for bikie thugs trying to escape much tougher laws across the border

Victoria’s bikie landscape has changed over the past five years, according to a senior police inspector.

 

UPDATE: BIKIES are using Victoria as a refuge against tough anti-­Outlaw Motorcycle Gang laws in other states, senior police have confirmed. 

Detective Inspector Ian Campbell, the head of the anti-OMCG Echo taskforce, said Victoria’s bikie landscape had changed dramatically in the past five years.

Insp Campbell said it was now evident tougher laws in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia had pushed gang members into Victoria.

He said there were now 26 clubs with between 1200 and 1400 members in Victoria.

MICK MURRAY: No-nonsense former bouncer and Comanchero president who last year swore to step away from the gang as part of strict bail conditions. Murray was a quiet achiever in Sydney’s frenetic bikie scene before moving to Melbourne. 

 

The Hells Angels, he said, still viewed themselves as the pre-eminent outfit with a network of feeder clubs available to do their “dirty work”.

The Bandidos, he said, were well-organised, with links to Mexican drug cartels and a heavy influence in the security and debt-collecting industries.

The Mongols were aggressively recruiting, having patched 50 members within the state’s prison system.

TOBY MITCHELL: Former Bandido enforcer who is currently behind bars on extortion, blackmail, assault and threat to kill charges. He has survived two attempts on his life. 

 

Police are faced with the ominous prospect of those members being released in coming years, among them senior Mongol bikie figure Mohammed Akbar Keshtier.

“He has told prison staff he will be the No.1 criminal when he gets out of jail,” one investigator said.

There seems no end to the recruiting power of the gangs, said detective Sen-Sgt Wayne Cheesman, of Echo.

Even successful operations like the Attero joint operation run against the Rebels had not stopped that gang’s membership expanding.

“They say they can’t keep up with demand,” Sen-Sgt Cheesman said.

“How do we stop these ­people wanting to join?”

But as time goes on, the ­motive for bikies’ use of force remains the same.

“They will do anything to retain this money and this power. It is a business ­machine,” Sen-Sgt Cheesman said.

“It’s all about the money. They’re not going to give that up.”

A graphic demonstration came when Comanchero members raided the home of a low-level drug dealer they viewed as costing them money.

He was severely assaulted before the bikies turned on the kettle and poured boiling water over him.

“They said, ‘You will now buy your drugs from us’,” Sen-Sgt Cheesman said.

Cash may be king but ­machismo and perception remain important in their little world.

One senior bikie figure grew strangely upset at a series of major raids on a rival outfit.

“You made them look badder than us. You need to raid us,” the office-bearer said.

Detective Superintendent Nigel Ryan, of the Australian Federal Police national anti-gangs ­office, said the gangs were a key linkage between trans­national crime networks.

And they were increasingly using South East Asian countries to find a haven.

“They are restricted by no borders,” Supt Ryan told the conference.

Victoria’s Attorney General Martin Pakula said a national approach was needed to tackle bikies’ criminal activities.

“Absolutely, it’s always been a view of Victorian Labor that there should be a national approach to outlaw motorcycle gangs in the same way that there’s a national approach to counter-terrorism,” Mr Pakula told 3AW today.

heraldsun.com.au 16 Mar 2015

The corporate media distracting the masses from another serious and important issue that being, one of the most corrupt organisations in the state.

An organisation with approximately 300 'stations' across the state, where over 60% of the 10,000 strong population has 'admitted' to committing criminal activity is in charge of 'law enforcement' in the state.

The organisation is called Victoria Police.

They are committing 'white collar' (administrative) crimes, theft of monies, extortion and in collusion with another criminal organisation, that being the 'Sheriff's Office of Victoria', where hundreds of millions of dollars are extorted from the general populous annually.

These 'facts' are totally omitted by the corporate media.

Why is that so Mr. Murdoch's media publication?

Suspected Bali Nine mastermind living in luxury as Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran sit on death row

Indonesian police escort Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan. Photo: Reuters
 

A man police suspect was a mastermind of the Bali nine drug importation is living a life of luxury in Sydney while two junior members of his syndicate, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, await the firing squad in Bali.

The man's lavish lifestyle is funded by a multimillion-dollar lottery pay out, which he won about the time the two young Australians, who acted as the local leaders of the syndicate in Bali, were being sentenced to death.

Former senior police sources said the man has previously been the subject of police drug trafficking investigations. He is believed to have halted his criminal activities after he quite literally won the lottery.

He is described in police intelligence reports as being suspected of high-level involvement in the syndicate that supplied the drugs carried by the Bali Nine mules. The syndicate is likely to have previously imported drugs into Australia.

The man now lives in Sydney and has escaped prosecution for any of his suspected criminal activities. He is believed to have won well over $5 million in the lottery several years ago, after the Bali nine members were arrested.

The extraordinary luck of the man underlines the rarely spoken reality of drug busts: those arrested are usually mid- to low-level players. More senior syndicate members ensure they are not hands-on and continue to traffic drugs once a courier or shore-party is arrested.

Chan and Sukumaran, who were dubbed by Indonesian authorities as the ring-leaders of the importation and who are facing imminent execution for their crime, have never revealed who they were working for, citing fear for the safety of their families back in Australia. It is possible that the pair do not know who were the ultimate organisers of the importation.

The pair had a low- to mid-level involvement in the trafficking for which they were convicted in 2006. Their roles included directing the Australian couriers in Bali.

Fairfax Media reported earlier this week that the portrayal of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran as the key figures in a heroin smuggling syndicate in April 2005 may have damaged their chances of a presidential reprieve.

Police have never arrested the suppliers, main organisers and financiers of the operation.

In 2005, police said they were pursuing "some very relevant avenues of inquiry" in relation to a syndicate that supplied the Bali nine and which was suspected of smuggling large amounts of heroin to Western countries.

Chan was 22 and had been living with his parents shortly before he was arrested in Bali. A Thai prostitute called Cherry Likit Bannakorn has been identified as the courier who delivered two suitcases of heroin to Chan in Bali. She remains the subject of an Interpol red notice but is also likely to be a relatively minor syndicate player.

On April 27, 2005, Indonesian police announced they had shot dead Man Singh Ghale, a Nepalese-born man with a long history of drug trafficking in Indonesia who they linked to the Bali nine operation.

Indonesian undercover drugs agents in Jakarta initially claimed they shot him as he tried to escape, but it emerged later his hands were cuffed behind his back at the time.

Months later, the AFP said that Man Singh Ghale was not the Mr Big in the Bali nine operation.

smh.com.au 11 Feb 2015

Authorities know who the 'ring leader' of the Bali 9 drug operation is BUT choose not to act as a result of corruption and bribes being paid to the AFP and others.

Apparently the Australian population are being mislead that the collection of 'metadata' is to stop crime.

This is NOT the case as it is used to monitor the general populous and has nothing to do with the reduction of crime.

$27m in council rates 'illegal'

$27m in council rates 'illegal'

The State Government has taken legal action against 22 councils after an audit found they had illegally levied more than $27 million in rates on 10,000 properties this year.

In an extraordinary move, Local Government Minister John Castrilli began proceedings in the State Administrative Tribunal in April to have the invalid rates and service charges quashed.

A spokesman for Mr Castrilli said yesterday the councils had failed to obtain ministerial approval before setting differential rates or minimum rates in their 2011-12 budgets, which was required under the Local Government Act.

An estimated 10,380 properties and $27.19 million in rates are involved.

In most cases, even if the SAT action is successful, the councils can impose the same rates after re-adopting their budgets with the relevant approval.

The spokesman said $475,000, spread between 19 of the 22 councils, would likely have to be repaid to ratepayers because it was levied illegally and unlikely to be remedied.

One large metropolitan council made up $349,000 of this amount, though he would not say which one.

For the other 18 councils, the rates refund could range from $1000 to $35,000.

In September, Mr Castrilli told Parliament that checks of 79 budgets for 2011-12 had found 16 councils had incorrectly imposed rates and charges and the issue could largely be fixed via a Governor's Order.

The department said yesterday that further monitoring resulted in 22 councils being taken to the SAT - the only legal avenue available. An application against another council was under consideration.

Six city councils are involved: Kwinana, Belmont, Gosnells, Rockingham, Kalamunda and Cockburn.

The remaining 16 country councils include Albany, Bunbury, Murray, Chapman Valley, Exmouth, Carnarvon and Murchison.

The spokesman said the breaches were "concerning".

Asked whether the issue extended to past budgets, he said the tribunal matter only involved rates that were incorrectly levied in 2011-12.

The spokesman said councils should notify any ratepayers incorrectly charged rates.

The matter will be back before the tribunal on Monday.

au.news.yahoo.com 12 Jun 2012

'council' rates are ILLEGAL full stop.

Exposing Corporate Criminals – Victoria’s sheriff – Brendan Facey

Is this person Victoria's greatest criminal?

In Victoria, Australia there is a person by the name of Brendan Facey claiming to be a sheriff. 

In order to become a sheriff, one must be appointed, lawfully with all the checks and balances in place, which will be put aside for the moment.

There are also other people working out of the ‘Sheriff’s Office’ in Victoria that claim to be sheriffs.

These people claiming to be sheriffs are actually glorified debt collectors and have no lawful authority as ‘sheriffs’ whatsoever.

A (Victorian) sheriff is supposed to be (lawfully) appointed by the Supreme Court of Victoria, and must function for the court exclusively.

Any letter to the prospective client will show that the letter from the “Sheriff’s Office” is addressed from 277 William St Melbourne, also the same place where Tenix Solutions and Civic Compliance Victoria (CCV) reside at.

Sheriff Template letter:

The apparent signatory at the bottom of the correspondence is Brendan Facey, where the actual signature is computer generated.

Now,

Brendan Facey is also an employee of the Department of Justice as a Director of “Infringement Management & Enforcement Services” GPO Box 123 Melbourne 3001, with the current street address of 40/80 Collins St. Melbourne, 3000.

DoJ (IMES) letter signature:

This can be confirmed with any letter from the Department of Justice & Regulation, Infringement Management & Enforcement Services, where [he?] signs the document as a Director, (of) Infringement Management & Enforcement Services (totally different signature than from the ‘Sheriff’s Office’), contrary to his Supreme Court of Victoria appointment as a ‘sheriff’.

Once you ask any so called sheriff the lawfulness of their appointment, they refuse to comment.

If they are actually masquerading as officers of the crown (as indicated by the badge) and they are NOT lawfully sworn in, then they are committing a criminal offence.

Remind them of this next time you speak to a ‘sheriff'.

NB/. The actual validity of law in Victoria is put aside for the purpose of this article.

A small district in the south of China is the likely origin of Australia’s meth imports

A small village in the South of China is responsible for a huge amount of Australia and the world’s meth production. Source: Flickr

 

AUSTRALIA is awash with methamphetamine — and it’s likely coming from a relatively small district in the south of China. 

The area responsible is the Lufeng District and sits on the southern Chinese border, just 200km east of Hong Kong.

The heart of the area is Lufeng’s industrial city of 1.7 million people but aside from the Dinosaur Valley Museum, a slew of lively restaurants and the temperate weather, there is not much to attract tourists.

Lufeng District, highlighted in pink. Source: Supplied

 

Which is probably a good thing because hidden beyond the smoke and bustle of the city, are some of China’s most prolific drug manufacturers.

Certain villages in the area have become so notorious for illegal activity that residents reportedly stand guard with AK-47s and handmade grenades, in order to protect their illegal business.

The reputation of the Lufeng is such that people on social media have taken to calling it “the city of ice.”
Last month police conducted what was the latest drug-related raid in the area, seizing 2.4 tonnes of methamphetamine from a village known locally as “the fortress.”

A year ago, raids in the same area proved equally successful with a three tonne seizure of the drug by Chinese authorities.

Jinjiang Road, Jieshi Town, the centre of the small industrial Lufeng City. Source: Flickr

 

Despite increased police action, the problem is unlikely to be eradicated any time soon.

The difficulty faced by the authorities lies in the huge sums of money to be made in exporting the substance out of Lufeng District, to the rest of the world.

Those controlling the trade in the area only need a single shipment to be a success to turn a giant profit.
Jeremy Douglas is the regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and told news.com.au the production of methamphetamine has overtaken other drugs, such as heroin.

“The money generated is significant, the drug traffickers are incredibly wealthy. They are able to corrupt and they do use corruption as a part of their business model. They just build it into the cost,” he said.

In October 2013, Guangdong police released a list of 109 wanted drug traders along with their residential addresses, all of them were in Lufeng. Source: Supplied

 

China has a huge pharmaceutical industry which is allowing the illicit drug trade to flourish. The precursors required to make the stimulant are commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry and according to Mr. Douglas, they are being diverted from their intended purpose to those operating illegal labs.

“To operate a lab like this, you need a lot of chemicals, which are legitimate, regulated chemicals from the pharmaceutical industry,” Mr. Douglas told the South China Morning Post.

Despite the fact that authorities incinerated 400 tonnes of crystal meth precursors seized in the area just five months ago, plenty more is clearly getting through to the labs.

The Chinese Communist Party has been increasingly proactive in cracking down on widespread corruption, so it’s no surprise that it lies at the heart of the burgeoning meth trade.

A journalist who covers the area for an English language newspaper, but who wished not to be named, told news.com.au that, “generally speaking, it [Lufeng] is considered one of the more corrupt Chinese provinces.”

Another challenge faced by law enforcement is the ease in which manufactures can move the site of production. They will simply shift their activities to take advantage of laws, corrupt officials or other opportunities.

“You can disguise these things as paint factories or anything,” said Mr. Douglas.

The black arrow shows the location of Lufeng, in the Guangdong province of southern China. Source: Supplied

 

Lufeng district is believed to be responsible for one-third of all crystal meth production in China over the past three years, and given its location, is the likely source of a majority of methamphetamine coming into Australia.

On February 18, 2015 two Australian men were charged after 16 kilograms of meth amphetamine was found in a shipment of treadmills coming from China.

And one week later two men from Malaysia and Hong Kong were charged with importing $65 million worth of the drug into Sydney in boxes marked as “kids’s toys.”

Mr. Douglas said these types of trafficking attempts were “highly likely” to have come from Lufeng Province. “Even if the seizure originated from another city, it may also be from there as it might have gone through different networks,” he told news.com.au. 

Seizure of 16kg of crystal meth hidden inside treadmills from China was seized in Sydney last month. Source: Supplied

 

A report last month in the Epoch Times contended that in one bust, up to 20 per cent of the Lufeng village were complicit in the operations of the meth trade.

While that number remains unsubstantiated, Mr. Douglas spoke of one bust in Lufeng where a majority of the village likely knew of the lab.

But the illegal activities that have become so common in Lufeng district represent a growing trend in the region.

Since 2006 there has been a fivefold increase in the number of amphetamine type stimulant (ATS) drug busts in East and South East Asia.

Last week, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) released their annual report and called the expansion of illicit amphetamine-type stimulants “the biggest concern in East and Southeast Asia.”

Due to its price and accessibility, methamphetamine has taken on a new form of popularity in Australia. The drug is even gaining a growing number of middle class users.

While it might be disproportionately emanating from a province is the south of China, as long as the demand remains, methamphetamine is likely to keep turning up on our shores.

news.com.au 11 Mar 2015

So, why are the authorities not doing anything about it?

That's right, because they're involved in the drug business.

The drug business in Australia is worth approximately $200 million per week.

In order to make an impact on the illicit drug trade, the authorities need to step up their work.

If they are not doing this, then they are 'supporting' the flow of drugs into the hands of the masses.

The authorities are also supporting Chinese 'investors' who obtain their funds from the illicit drug trade to invest in Australia, in effect selling 'us' out.

What Russia has against McDonald's and Coke

A McDonald’s sign in Moscow. Source: AAP

 

RUSSIAN officials sharply criticised US fast-food giants Coca-Cola and McDonald’s on Thursday for their “unhealthy” products, comparing aggressive advertising campaigns to a war on citizens. 

An aide to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev took aim at the companies for their “super-calorific” products in a sideswipe at the United States at a time of high tension between the countries over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“The aggressive marketing they carry out — which has nothing to do with our culinary traditions — is comparable to a war against our people,” said Gennady Onishchenko, speaking to radio station Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei.

Onishchenko was previously Russia’s chief sanitation doctor, notorious for imposing sweeping bans on food imports from countries that were Moscow’s political foes for alleged hygiene breaches.

They’re not loving it. Source: AAP

 

Last year he said Coca-Cola and Pepsi were “chemical weapons”, lamenting that they were not on a list of foreign imports banned by Russia in retaliation for Western sanctions for Moscow’s support of separatist rebels in Ukraine.

“Our children already drink more Coca-Cola than milk. Talking about McDonald’s — they need to change their menu and secondly the culture of food, not snacking or grabbing food, but proper nutrition for a Russian person,” he added.

Also on Thursday, a senior ruling-party politician, Alexei Pushkov, urged McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, which are both major employers and advertisers in Russia, to pull out of the country.

“Don’t McDonald’s and Coca-Cola want to support Obama’s sanctions and rid us of their products? They would be true to their principles and we would be healthier,” the head of the lower house of parliament’s foreign affairs committee wrote on Twitter.

Russian women against a backdrop of Coke advertising in 1998. Source: AAP

 

This was not the first time that McDonald’s has come into Moscow’s crosshairs. Russia last year launched sweeping health checks of more than 100 branches of McDonald’s and the chain was forced to temporarily close branches including the landmark outlet on Moscow’s Pushkin Square which was the first to open in the Soviet Union.

Russia denied that the high-profile checks into the fast-food brand that epitomises the American way of life were politically motivated.

McDonald’s closed its outlets in Crimea after Russia’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula in March last year, as well as in areas of eastern Ukraine seized by the rebels.

McDonald’s earnings in Russia and Ukraine were battered in 2014 as a result of their weak currencies.

news.com.au 6 Mar 2015

Two of the world's largest well known companies / trademarks that thrive financially by selling carcinogenic products to the 'masses'.

It is through the ignorance / stupidity that the masses fork out huge sums of money for nutrition-less / carcinogenic products, that allows companies like this to exist.

Some people may still believe that there is hope for 'humanity'.