Drug dog sniffs out grog runners

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2602 alcohol conficsated OK
 
Police have seized and destroyed more than 500 litres of alcohol destined for remote dry NT communities during a three day operation.
 
Five vehicles travelling from South Australia were stopped south of Alice Springs at a drug detection area operated by members of the Cross Border Team, Southern Dog Operations Unit and Alcohol Policing Unit.
 
During the search of the vehicles, police found 89 five litre wine bladders, 14 four litre wine bladders and a one litre bottle of spirits. The majority of the wine had been removed from the box casing to assist with carriage and concealment.
 
Seven people were issued with Drug Infringement Notices, two people were issued with Traffic Infringement notices and a man has been summonsed to appear before court at a later date after he was found in possession of a trafficable amount of cannabis.
 
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Leith Phillips said the seizure of this large quantity of alcohol would have a positive impact on the communities it was destined for.
 
“This is a significant seizure of alcohol destined for vulnerable people at risk of alcohol fuelled violence. We should see a dramatic decreased in violent alcohol related offending as a result of this seizure,” he says.
 
 
 

4 COMMENTS

  1. “Seven people were issued with Drug Infringement Notices.”
    Oh please, we all know that it will never be paid. They have been released with a slap on the wrist and will undoubtedly continue to smuggle alcohol.

  2. Illegal drugs – alcohol is not on the list! Neither is tobacco.
    It’s an offense in the Northern Territory (NT) to drive if you have a prohibited drug in your body, measured by police using a saliva or blood test.
    Is there a law dictating how much alcohol can be carried in a vehicle? No!
    Therefore until the vehicle enters a restricted area no crime has being committed. All one can do is guess why so much alcohol was there.
    In my opinion, stop banning and prohibition.
    People should learn to control their environment.
    Communities that do not want alcohol should have their control at the entrance gates and be free to burn the vehicles in breach of the rules.

  3. Evelyne (Posted below on January 14, 2019 at 10:15 am) says rhetorically: “Is there a law dictating how much alcohol can be carried in a vehicle? No!”
    I have no idea whether Evelyne is correct, but it is evident that she is not aware of the powers conferred on NT police (and now on the NT Police Auxiliary Liquor Inspectors, aka PALIs) by a new Commonwealth law enacted by John Howard’s Federal Liberal-National Party Coalition government in September 2007. (The Federal law was immediately confirmed by the then NT Government in complementary amendments to its NT Liquor Act).
    From that time NT police have been empowered to seize, and keep or destroy, any alcohol when they judge that the person in possession of it may be intending to illegally on-sell it and/or has no intention of consuming it in a place where it is legal to consume alcohol.
    This power has formed the basis for almost all the POSI, TBL and PALI activities outside liquor outlets since they were first introduced by police under the Henderson Labor government in May 2012, up to the present day.
    So Evelyne, the amount of alcohol in a vehicle is irrelevant. The powers of police to make a judgement about the situation are the key factor.
    As for Ms Roullet’s opinion that “People should learn to control their environment”, it is hard to disagree. What an excellent “motherhood statement”.
    It is even harder to fathom how Evelyne thinks this might begin to happen, in any constructive, sustainable and just manner, without the great help of the PALIs using the special powers conferred on them back in 2007, especially in relation to those people who are generally the main victims of alcohol-fuelled mayhem and waste: Infants, other children, many women, the weak, the infirm and the elderly. Do you think they should all be trained in the martial arts and issued with tazers and mustard gas, Evelyne?
    Under exactly what circumstances do you think people would be able or likely to “learn to control their environment” if they were again engulfed in a tsunami of alcohol, Evelyne?
    Would you be there to throw life jackets to the victims of the excessive drinkers?
    Or would you prefer to let the survival of the fittest apply, and more generations of children fail to get a fair start in life?

  4. Ntharipe Observer: You have excellent points to argue the dilemma caused by alcohol. However, you make it sound like in a community there are more violent alcoholics than responsible men and women.
    Groups similar to Neighbourhood Watch could be formed, supported by the local police.
    Neighbourhood Watch is a successful community-based crime prevention program aimed at the protection of property and personal safety.
    It is not simple but can be done as it must be easy to spot a foreign cars entering or visiting the community.
    No question of martial arts or any other physical violence: Citizen arrest should be enough and if followed by the destruction of the vehicle would send a message to traffickers.

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