ROKAPE
25th Jun 2009, 02:56
Crime gangs infest ports
Linton Besser and Nick McKenzie
June 25, 2009
AUSTRALIA'S wharves and airports have been infiltrated by organised crime figures and are vulnerable to criminal exploitation, according to a confidential inquiry by the nation's peak criminal intelligence body.
A three-year intelligence-gathering operation by the Australian Crime Commission has uncovered serious weaknesses in the security of ports and airports.
Among those targeted during the commission's "Crime in the transport sector" inquiry, or who have been the subject of separate inquiries by it and other agencies, are:
* Associates of outlaw motorcycle gangs and other crime groups who work at airports;
* An executive of an Asian airline who used his official security pass to smuggle drug money through Melbourne Airport and onto a plane.
State and federal agencies have been briefed over the past six months on the commission's findings, which a state police source described as "damning".
Another senior police source said the wharves had entrenched criminal elements and that the maritime security identification card system had failed to stop criminal infiltration.
Last year the Australian Federal Police uncovered maritime industry workers in Melbourne passing sensitive information to the alleged drugs boss Rob Karam.
In a text message intercepted last July, Karam allegedly revealed he had been tipped off by a worker that police had intercepted a container filled with drugs.
The commission said its three-year probe had produced "intelligence on serious and organised crime in the aviation and maritime transport sectors", including 349 reports and intelligence briefs on waterfront criminality.
It said it had also created 86 reports on criminality in the airport sector.
As part of its inquiry, the commission used its coercive questioning powers to grill airport and wharf workers across the country, including those with suspected ties to criminals. A report to Parliament last December said the commission had found "a range of points of weakness in current control environments".
A spokesman for the Home Affairs Minister, Brendan O'Connor, said the minister would be briefed by the commission this week. He said the recent federal budget had committed $53.1 million to improving airport security.
Police are concerned that criminal figures are working at airports more than three years after the Wheeler inquiry called for an overhaul of airport security.
At Melbourne Airport, federal police are examining how the vice-president of the Outcasts outlaw motorcycle gang has been working as a baggage screener for a private security company.
The senior bikie has an aviation security identification card that gives him access to most areas of the airport.
A senior law enforcement source who is aware of the commission's report said serious problems also remained at Sydney Airport, including intelligence gaps and poor co-ordination between different public and private security agencies.
The commission's inquiry is believed to have focused on several methods used by organised criminals to smuggle drugs into the country, including "piggy-backing" on legitimate cargo.
Police sources said the maritime and aviation security card system was inadequate. It prevented people with serious criminal convictions from working in sensitive areas, although many people could work in the industry without a card or with a criminal conviction that was not considered unacceptable.
Police intelligence was not used in assessing whether a card should be granted.
Department of Transport figures reveal about 10 per cent of the 33,644 people who have applied for an aviation security card since last October had been convicted of a crime. Of those 148 have been refused.
Over the same period about 20 per cent of the 12,552 maritime workers who applied for a security card had a criminal record - only 41 were rejected.
The commission said it was enhancing intelligence sharing and co-operation between agencies to combat problems at wharves and airports.
Linton Besser and Nick McKenzie
June 25, 2009
AUSTRALIA'S wharves and airports have been infiltrated by organised crime figures and are vulnerable to criminal exploitation, according to a confidential inquiry by the nation's peak criminal intelligence body.
A three-year intelligence-gathering operation by the Australian Crime Commission has uncovered serious weaknesses in the security of ports and airports.
Among those targeted during the commission's "Crime in the transport sector" inquiry, or who have been the subject of separate inquiries by it and other agencies, are:
* Associates of outlaw motorcycle gangs and other crime groups who work at airports;
* An executive of an Asian airline who used his official security pass to smuggle drug money through Melbourne Airport and onto a plane.
State and federal agencies have been briefed over the past six months on the commission's findings, which a state police source described as "damning".
Another senior police source said the wharves had entrenched criminal elements and that the maritime security identification card system had failed to stop criminal infiltration.
Last year the Australian Federal Police uncovered maritime industry workers in Melbourne passing sensitive information to the alleged drugs boss Rob Karam.
In a text message intercepted last July, Karam allegedly revealed he had been tipped off by a worker that police had intercepted a container filled with drugs.
The commission said its three-year probe had produced "intelligence on serious and organised crime in the aviation and maritime transport sectors", including 349 reports and intelligence briefs on waterfront criminality.
It said it had also created 86 reports on criminality in the airport sector.
As part of its inquiry, the commission used its coercive questioning powers to grill airport and wharf workers across the country, including those with suspected ties to criminals. A report to Parliament last December said the commission had found "a range of points of weakness in current control environments".
A spokesman for the Home Affairs Minister, Brendan O'Connor, said the minister would be briefed by the commission this week. He said the recent federal budget had committed $53.1 million to improving airport security.
Police are concerned that criminal figures are working at airports more than three years after the Wheeler inquiry called for an overhaul of airport security.
At Melbourne Airport, federal police are examining how the vice-president of the Outcasts outlaw motorcycle gang has been working as a baggage screener for a private security company.
The senior bikie has an aviation security identification card that gives him access to most areas of the airport.
A senior law enforcement source who is aware of the commission's report said serious problems also remained at Sydney Airport, including intelligence gaps and poor co-ordination between different public and private security agencies.
The commission's inquiry is believed to have focused on several methods used by organised criminals to smuggle drugs into the country, including "piggy-backing" on legitimate cargo.
Police sources said the maritime and aviation security card system was inadequate. It prevented people with serious criminal convictions from working in sensitive areas, although many people could work in the industry without a card or with a criminal conviction that was not considered unacceptable.
Police intelligence was not used in assessing whether a card should be granted.
Department of Transport figures reveal about 10 per cent of the 33,644 people who have applied for an aviation security card since last October had been convicted of a crime. Of those 148 have been refused.
Over the same period about 20 per cent of the 12,552 maritime workers who applied for a security card had a criminal record - only 41 were rejected.
The commission said it was enhancing intelligence sharing and co-operation between agencies to combat problems at wharves and airports.