Five Malaysian men have been arrested in Sydney and Melbourne after allegedly trying to set up a drug trafficking network along the east coast.

Police say they seized $4 million worth of the drugs during raids in three Sydney suburbs yesterday, but the group had planned to import hundreds of kilograms of drugs.
A total of 2 kilograms of ice and 2.1 kilograms of heroin were allegedly found at the properties in the Sydney CBD and at Cabramatta and Hurstville, in the city's south-west and south.
Police say the men travelled to Australia for the express purpose of setting up a trafficking network in Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
Officers from the NSW Asian Crime Squad pounced yesterday after a six-month investigation, in cooperation with the Australian Federal Police and the NSW Crime Commission.
Police say the five arrests include the two men allegedly running the syndicate, aged 28 and 48.
They were arrested late yesterday, one at a restaurant in Sydney's Chinatown and the other while he was travelling to Sydney Airport.
The men have been charged with offences including supplying commercial quantities of ice and heroin.
Both were refused bail to face court today.
Police then arrested two more men, aged 38 and 39, at Cabramatta and Hurstville.
Again both were charged with offences including supplying a commercial quantity of an illegal drug, and refused bail to face court today.
The final arrest was a 23-year-old detained by AFP officers in Melbourne.
The commander of the NSW Asian Crime Squad, Scott Cook, says the operation was still in its embryonic stage.
"This is potentially a very serious and large operation. There's no doubt in our minds that the people involved in this had aspirations certainly of importing hundreds of kilos of drugs," he said.
"They certainly didn't get to do that yet and I think in a sense we've prevented that from occuring, which is probably better than letting it occur and then seizing the drugs.
"They were well on their way. Two of the people involved flew out from Malaysia to Australia only about 10 days ago. They were the principals who came out to oversee the implementation of their plans, which was being carried out by others who were already in Australia.
"So it was very early days. We'll be alleging that they'd started to supply drugs in NSW with a view of developing their networks to supply further drugs in future."

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Turkish police have seized large amount of hashish in the frames of an operation carried out in Istanbul

Turkish police have seized large amount of hashish in the frames of an operation carried out in Istanbul, the Anatolian Agency informs.
It is believed that the drug haul has been imported from Diyarbakir.
Three people have been arrested, charged with drug trafficking.

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Container ship crew member sentenced for drug smuggling

A man in his 30s has been sentenced to three years in prison for smuggling around four kilogrammes of amphetamines to Iceland. He is charged with having smuggled the drugs to the country with intent to sell and distribute them.
Benedikt Palmason took possession of the amphetamines from an unknown person in Rotterdam, Netherlands on the 6th June and took them to Iceland aboard the Eimskip container ship, Godafoss. The charged man was a crew member on board the ship, DV reported.
He hid the drugs in front of the back seat of a car which was being transported; but the police found them in a search.



The man’s three year gaol sentence is considered light, due to the fact that he has never been prosecuted for similar crimes before, and that he was not proven to be anything more than a drugs mule. He confessed without reservation to the court.
The drugs in question are considered very dangerous and the mix was very strong.
Palmason was sentenced to three years in prison and will have to pay ISK 651,375 (EUR 3,930) in legal costs — including ISK 445,000 to his defence lawyer. He has been in custody awaiting trial since the 14th June.

 

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Iranian newspapers report that a man has been hanged in the southern Iranian town of Minab on charges of drug smuggling.

The man, who was executed on July 30, was identified only by the initials H.D.

The report in the "Kayhan" newspaper did not say whether the execution was carried out in public.

The latest hanging brings to 173 the number of executions reported in Iran so far this year, according to media and official reports.

Iranian media reported 179 hangings last year, but international human rights groups say the actual number was much higher -- ranking the Islamic republic second only to China in the number of people it executed.

Tehran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order in Iran.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are among the crimes punishable by death in Iran.

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