Two a penny

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New Zealand is seen as a soft target by gangs, which launder millions of dollars through this country, says the head of an Australian police unit set up to combat Melbourne’s criminal underworld. .

New Zealand needed to target organised crime rings, or risk reaching a crisis point of its own, he said.

Mr Edwards heads the Purana Taskforce, set up after a “crisis” of gangland killings in Melbourne, on which the television drama Underbelly was based. You will get shootings, you will get killings – if you do nothing about it. “Hopefully you realise that you need to stop it before the problems start. She said examples included:

Killer Beez gang owned the hip hop record label Colourways.”

Police Minister Judith Collins told the conference gangs had infiltrated businesses, and turned legitimate enterprises into money-laundering outlets.

– Gangs increasingly attended public and community celebrations, projecting themselves as harmless groups with a strong community spirit. Its music videos were thinly disguised recruitment advertisements for the gang and played on mainstream television.

– Gangs partnered with businesses in finance, transport, private security, entertainment, real estate and various trade-related industries. They had run lotteries, and uniformed police had been sent to oversee the draws.

Mrs Collins said gangs existed to make money and gain power, and their new level of sophistication was presenting a serious challenge. These partnerships help facilitate their real businesses – violence, extortion, drug-dealing and money-laundering.

Mr Edwards cited one of his taskforce’s cases, the busting of a cannabis-growing operation run by an organised gang.

But the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act, which made possible the seizure of any assets that were probably gained illegally, would help dismantle organised crime.5 million was found to have been sent to New Zealand bank accounts from Australia. A$2.

Police Association president Greg O’Connor said the drug trade here was already leading to money-laundering and violence by organised groups. It was then sent to Vietnam and its value eventually returned to Australia in the form of drugs.”

Police tackling organised crime needed to be tasked with targeting those at “the highest level”, he said, but that could mean no tangible results in the short term. “All the things he’s talked about are already here.

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Money-laundering – by which criminals try to hide the origin of money or property gained illegally – was the result of gangs making large sums from the methamphetamine trade and needing to find legitimate places for it

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A massive police blitz in Auckland over the past four days concluded last night with 129 people facing drink-driving charges.

Road policing manager Inspector Gavin Macdonald said about 40,000 drivers were breath tested during Operation Safer Roads, where checkpoints were set up around the region, catching some suburban residents by surprise. The legal limit is 400mcg.

Police impounded 17 vehicles and suspended 34 people’s driving licences after they returned readings of more than 650 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.

Mr Macdonald said 13 people were also arrested for offences including receiving stolen property, unlawfully taking vehicles, driving while disqualified and breaching bail conditions.

Court bailiffs were also involved in the operation, seizing an additional 12 vehicles and collecting $3000 in cash for outstanding fines.

“One offender actually complained after being stopped that the police had changed the location of a checkpoint whilst he had been drinking at the pub. .

Mr Macdonald said drink-driving was no joke and that police and the community had had enough of irresponsible behaviour by intoxicated drivers.”

The man admitted to having received a text message from a friend telling him which way to travel home to avoid being detected.

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Police have charged Paremoremo inmate George Baker after he allegedly took another man hostage in the Auckland prison the previous month.

Baker, 28, will appear in North Shore District Court charged with kidnapping, assault with a weapon and threatening to kill.

He was believed to have been armed with a makeshift knife and was demanding a transfer to a less secure unit.

The charges are in relation to an incident at Paremoremo prison the previous month when Baker, who has a history of mental health problems, allegedly took another man hostage with weapons improvised from the prison’s recreation room. .

Baker eventually freed his hostage, believed to have been an elderly sex offender, and gave himself up peacefully.

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Baker is due to appear on 18 September

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A total of 153 people were on board a Yemenia Air aircraft that crashed in the waters of the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros, an airline official said. . Comoros vice-president Idi Nadhoim said the accident happened in the early hours of Tuesday, but could not give any more details.

The Airbus 310 aircraft that also carried an 11-strong crew was in route from Sanaa to Moroni, in the Comoros, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“They have just called me to come to the hospital.

The location of the crash was not immediately known, but a medical worker in the town of Mitsamiouli, on the main island Grande Comore, said he had been called into the local hospital.

A Comoran police source said the plane was believed to have come down in the sea. They said a plane had crashed,” he said.

The details of the flight areunknown, but the BBC reported there was a flight from Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, due about 0230 local time.

“We really have no sea rescue capabilities,” he added.

The Comoros covers three small volcanic islands, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli, in the Mozambique channel, 300kmnorthwest of Madagascar and a similar distance east of the African mainland. That flight was a connecting flight from Paris.

Yemenia’s fleet includes two Airbus 330-200s, four Airbus 310-300s and four Boeing 737-800s, according to the site.

Yemenia, which is 51 percent owned by the Yemeni government and 49 percent owned by the Saudi Arabian government, flies to Moroni, according to flight schedules on its website.

A hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the sea off the Comoros islands in 1996, killing 125 of 175 passengers and crew

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The May monthly trade surplus of $858 million is the biggest in 16 years.

Statistics New Zealand figures out today show the surplus for the month was equal to 21. .7 per cent of exports- the highest percentage since June 1993.

“Agricultural exports are traditionally seasonally weak over the second part of the year and the underlying weakness in other exports (such as manufactures) is likely to become more apparent,” Turner warned.

ASB economist Jane Turner said that while today’s surplus was an impressive performance, she remained wary on the sustainability of trade surpluses. It was the biggest fall in imports since February 1993.

Imports fell more than 20 per cent, by $809 million, reflecting a drop in oil and vehicles imports.

On an annual basis declines centred on vehicles, capital and intermediate goods.

Turner said weakness in imports remained fairly broad-based, consistent with weak demand and falling aggregate output.

Darren Gibbs from Deutsche Bank said today’s surplus data highlighted the relative resilience of New Zealand’s merchandise export sector which was helped by volume growth in the commodity sector.

Imports of passenger motor cars were 52 percent lower than a year earlier.”

“Whilst some of that growth, especially in the commodity sector likely reflects destocking, it is encouraging to see that sales are still being achieved,” Gibbs added.

“Imports were a little weaker than expected, mainly due to weakness in the intermediates category, but the main surprise was the considerably stronger than expected export receipts.

Exports to China accounted for 80 per cent of the rise, mainly from milk powder, butter and cheese, and logs.

Exports rose almost 6 per cent, $218 million up on May last year. The rise has been underpinned by stronger volumes, as export prices for dairy products have declined,” Turner said.

“The value of milk powder, butter and cheese exports are up almost 20 percent compared to year-ago levels.

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OPINION:
The All Blacks are a disgrace. And, no, I’m not talking about their performances in the just-completed two-test series against France. That I can forgive. Something has to be done about this – and quick – before what’s left of our reputation is in complete tatters.

I’m referring, of course, to their continued reluctance to sing their country’s national anthem before a test match.

But now when they glance across prior to belting out their own anthems with trademark gusto, pride and enthusiasm, they are confronted with a bunch of stony-faced All Blacks, their lips pursed tighter than a bank’s coffers and their eyes all glazed over, as the words of God Defend New Zealand ring out around the stands, but not in centre-pitch.

It’s not enough that visiting international rugby teams suffer indignities like having bottles hurled at them as they salute their fans in the stands and being assaulted in our streets as they make their way back to their hotels.

What must they make of it? A group of proud young men about to represent their country on the biggest stage, and they’re incapable even of singing the one true symbol of their nationhood. You’re supposed to let rip, regardless of whether you think a high note is the warm feeling you get after you score a try. It is called an anthem for a reason, after all. When it comes anthem time they look like they do when they walk into their once-a-week media session.

But not our lads.

OK, there are the odd exceptions. As though they’d rather be somewhere else. One or two players actually sing along, and a couple of others can be seen mumbling something under their breaths, though for all we know they could just be repeating their coaches’ last-minute instructions. One or two players actually sing along, and a couple of others can be seen mumbling something under their breaths, though for all we know they could just be repeating their coaches’ last-minute instructions. As long as I’ve been covering the All Blacks, which dates back to before the start of the professional era.

This behaviour has been going on for some time now. Never more so than now. . We’re little more than two years away from hosting the Rugby World Cup, which has grown so big and so driven by the commercial imperative that in many ways it represents a potential last chance for one of the ”smaller” nations to ever host the event.

The eyes of the world are on us, whether we like it or not. But as the wise man once said, image is everything.

Granted, things like ground security, player welfare in the streets and even the prevention of livestock being carried into stadiums might seem like greater concerns than a mere national anthem.

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Great Granny Dawn Danby’s dope dealing could see her kicked out of the same house she’s been sentenced to serve home detention in.

On Friday the 71-year-old was sentenced at Tauranga District Court to a year’s home detention and 300 hours community work on charges of growing, selling and possessing cannabis for supply between October 2006 and February 2007.

Police have a restraining order on the property and want it forfeited to the Crown at a Proceeds of Crime hearing.

Now police want to take her Paeroa home a cute hillside house surrounded by well-kept gardens and littered with pot-plants which Danby says was bought legitimately and has been mortgage-free for more than 15 years.

“I love it here.

Danby a typical grandmother with walking stick and glasses told the prospect of losing her home was “like a bad dream”.

“It (the potential forfeiture of her home) is ridiculous.

“This is my home,” she said.

“I wasn’t too worried when I was arrested . It’s crazy and out of all proportion…

“I didn’t realise that jeopardy was there. it’s what has happened since that scares me.”

Despite her convictions, Danby maintains she never sold cannabis or helped kick-start other growers’ crops by selling them plants she had cloned. I never realised my house was at risk.

Danby, who maintained she was a law-abiding citizen, said she had not tried cannabis until she was 66 and only did so because conventional medicines did not work on her.

She said she and her co-accused 64-year-old Douglas McKinney, her boarder for 23 years needed the dope for pain relief.

After the operation failed, she was riddled with so much pain she soon decided not only to smoke cannabis but also to grow it.

She was in agony before having a pelvic floor operation and was “very intolerant” of prescription pain relief and anti-inflammatories.

The cost of cannabis and fears over what other growers might have “sprayed” the product with also motivated the decision.

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Until then, she and McKinney had “bought tinnies”.

“And you don’t get that with anything.

Danby, who also has osteoarthritis and sleep apnoea caused by obstruction of the airways, said she needed instant pain relief.

“You take cannabis and it works within 15 seconds if inhaled.

“You take cannabis and it works within 15 seconds if inhaled.”

Danby said she made an educated choice to use the Class C drug.

She is a former trainee pharmacist and pharmacy owner and her family had a history of using the alternative medicine.

Before their deaths Danby’s mother and sister, both registered nurses, had used cannabis her mother to cure respiratory problems and her sister to ease pain before her death. .

Taking cannabis as pain relief affects users differently to those who take it recreationally, Danby said.

She said cannabis gave her the strength to maintain a working life which consisted of doing Maori land research, counselling, English tutoring and selling Hosta plants at her local markets.

“When you’re in pain, the THC and all the other compounds act on that pain so you don’t get that heavy stoned effect,” she said.

“You also get the well-being feeling and you’re able to carry on doing a day’s work.”

At Friday’s sentencing, Tauranga District Court Judge Peter Rollo said he believed Danby had used cannabis for pain relief but doubted it was as effective as she made out.

“You had a very full life, despite mature years, quite inconsistent with the amount of pain you should have been in and quite inconsistent with the amount of cannabis you told the jury you used on a daily basis,” the judge said.

During Danby’s February trial, police said if she and McKinney had not sold any cannabis during one 13-month period alone, they would have had to have smoked more than 8300 cannabis joints which was almost 20 a day.

But when that figure was put to her, Danby told the court: “We still found between harvest and the next one that we were afraid of running out. The amounts we were using were well within international guidelines for pain relief.”

But Judge Rollo said Danby had been “less than economical” with the truth during her trial and had given the court a “rather untruthful account” of her offending. She was an “enigma” who broke several drug-dealing stereotypes.

During their February, 2007 raid on Danby’s home, police found 12 cannabis

plants growing in pots behind the house, 11 cannabis clones being grown under light inside the home and five further cannabis seedlings in the garden.

Almost two ounces were found divided between several containers in the house.

More than $9000 cash was taken from Danby and a stack of $20 bills from McKinney after police spotted him trying to bury them in the garden.

In sentencing Danby, Judge Rollo said the most telling piece of evidence police collected during the raid was Danby’s diary, detailing harvest yields as far back as September 2004, growing methods, “tick lists” of customer debts and payments, and lists of products used to boost the drugs’ growth.

Danby claims none of the transactions related to cannabis sales.

Danby was only charged for growing between October 2006 and February 2007.

“You were caught red-handed with all the incriminating evidence present,” Judge Rollo said.

Danby said although she was feeling the weight of the law “her community” never judged her.

“Not one person,” she said. “The first thing everyone does is laugh.

“Thinking has moved on to do with cannabis and it’s like, if you’re using it, like I said I was using it for pain relief, they’re respectful of that.”

Sitting in a padded arthritis support chair at her home, Danby said the main lesson in her arrest was “don’t grow in your own back yard”.

Danby started growing cannabis with seeds she had collected from “tinnies” and used her garage, which she claims was already in use for her perennial Hosta plants.

“It wasn’t difficult … because I had a lot of plant knowledge. What was new for me was growing indoors,” Danby said.

“But I was several months ahead with my Hostas when I started (growing cannabis), so it was whatever I had learned with them I could just transfer over to the cannabis.”

By the time police raided Danby’s home she had ceased the indoor operation in favour of growing in her back garden, a decision motivated more by fears her crop would be stolen than the possibility of arrest.

“It was nerve-racking growing it down there (in the shed) because every time a car pulls up at night you’re worried about whether people have worked out that you’ve got it there,” Danby said.

“You know there are a lot of people in the district that would just steal it.”

Despite her conviction, Danby believes most people consider laws banning cannabis are “a waste of time”.

She says the drug needs to be regulated, not prohibited.

She firmly believes cannabis should also be available for medicinal purposes.

A Ministry of Health spokesman earlier this week said the ministry does “not support the smoking of any part of the cannabis plant for medical purposes”.

The Ministry does however support Sativex, a mouth spray containing cannabis, and since gaining approval last year the ministry has allowed five applicants to use it.

McKinney was also sentenced at Tauranga District Court on Friday to one year’s home detention and 300 hours community work on the same charges Danby faced. A suitable home detention address however couldn’t be found, so his sentencing will be concluded next month.