The Command Post - Iran, North Korea & Other Hotspots

April 20, 2003

DPRK Drug Link

Australia's special forces have been busy, and not just in Iraq. From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporations) comes this tale of international intrigue :

HMAS Stuart is escorting a North Korean vessel at the centre of a suspected international drug running syndicate into Sydney Harbour.
The trawler, the Pong Su, registered in Tuvalu and owned by a North Korean company, was seized off the New South Wales coast earlier today.
It is alleged to have been involved in the importation of 50 kilograms of high grade heroin, near Lorne in Victoria last week.
The Defence Force's Special Operations Commander, Major General Duncan Lewis, says heavily armed officers seized the Pong Su in very high seas.
"Very dangerous operation obviously with large surge going up and down the side of the vessel, they quickly boarded the vessel and then sought to dominate by securing the bridge," Major General Lewis said.
"The vessel was brought under our control in a matter of minutes really from the time the boarding commenced and as soon as the ship was declared secure, then very clearly, in accordance with the regulations, we handed jurisdiction back to the customs and Australian federal police officers."

UPDATE : Curiouser and Curiouser Department - ABC radio reported that the SAS, Tactical Assault Group, and Incident Response Regiment were all involved in an "opposed boarding" with the ship still underway. The Incident Response Regiment are Australia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence troops. Some details of the situation before the raid are available from the Sydney Morning Herald. It is unheard of for an arrested ship to be accompanied back to port by a major warship rather than a patrol boat. There is some video footage in RealPlayer (ram) format. The ship is suspected of being the "Mother Ship" that dropped off the 50kg a few days ago, and has been pursued since Thursday. It will take up to 3 days to search the vessel, as she coudl be containing all sorts of contraband.
Even more interestingly, it seems that Steven den Beste had an inkling of the story several days ago.

Posted by Alan Brain at April 20, 2003 03:47 AM

Comments

50kgs isnt very much. ?.

Posted by: 8 at April 20, 2003 03:56 AM

I agree. My take is that it is possibly an attempt by an espionage agency to discredit NK. Just a big enough shippment to cause a splash. Yet still affordable.

Here is another piece of the puzzle.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6300830%255E2,00.html

The fact is though all the international drug traffic is arbitrage on a socialist system.

My take on addiction is that people in chronic pain chronically take drugs. Thus the whole drug war represents arbitrage on people in pain.

Where the pain has no obvious physical component PTSD is often involved. Which is why addictions are common in returning soldiers.

Posted by: M. Simon at April 20, 2003 06:28 AM

8 : Given Australia's population, it's the equivalent of some 1000 kg being sent to the USA. It's one of the biggest heroin seizures we've had. More to the point, the vessel refused repeated requests to stop while well within territorial waters, and some of the crew actively opposed the boarding. They were relying on the sea being too rough for any boarding party.

Posted by: Alan E Brain at April 20, 2003 06:50 AM

Look, you have to make money somehow. Give Pyongyang credit; between the drugs and missiles, at least the North has finally realized that export-led growth is the way to go. This isn't the first time the DPRK has gotten busted for running drugs; their diplomats in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia have been linked to heroin for years (and not just its consumption). It just baffles me how, when their energies should be focused on the "three-party" talks in Beijing, they still have the time to engage in all their little side businesses. A true gangster state if there has ever been one.

BTW, has anyone ever heard of any links between Pyongyang and the Russian Mafia? The Russians seem to be making a presence here in South Korea, where we just had a pretty high-profile gang hit in Pusan. But I've never heard of any links between the North and the Russian mob, which is strange, considering their common business interests.

Posted by: Robert Koehler at April 20, 2003 07:47 AM

North Korea is a client state of the Chinese, so Russian mafia probably wouldn't be welcome. ??

Posted by: rkb at April 20, 2003 08:31 AM

That amount of Heroin was supposedly worth 80 million dollars. And that was just the stuff *dropped off*, it doesn't say how much more they found on the ship. I wonder what else they'll find in that ship, as it wouldn't stop for a search.

Posted by: Nick M (Arrogant Rants) at April 20, 2003 08:56 AM

By making pain relief contraband we are supporting criminals and terrorists around the world.

The really funny part is that currently the majority of Americans think this is a good idea.

Posted by: M. Simon at April 20, 2003 09:47 AM

M.Simon : Funnily enough, I agree that Prohibition is not the best method of dealing with what is primarily a Public Health problem. Especially for soft drugs, but possibly for hard ones too.
That's why many (including me) here in the ACT(Australian Capital Territory - equivt of D.C.) are supportive of a Heroin Clinic trial, where addicts can get a "fix" of known potency, using clean needles, so don't OD or spread HIV and Hepatitis - and have no need to engage in muggings, burglaries etc. to feed their habit.
But the Salvation Army - a group which has a lot of experience in treating addicts - is very much agin it, not on moral/religious grounds, but on practical ones. Their arguments are plausible.
What put the Kibosh on it was US pressure. Australia grows a large amount of the world's legal Opium poppies in Tasmania. The US under Clinton threatened to cause withdrawal of the licence if the Australian Capital Territory went ahead with its plans to do the same thing as , say, the UK.

Summary : More harm was done by Alfonse Capone and Co's shennanigans during Prohibition than any amount of Alchohol addiction could have done in the same period.

Note that in addition to the 50Kg of Heroin dropped off, so was a corpse.

Posted by: Alan E Brain at April 20, 2003 10:22 AM

Alan,

Australia is far ahead of America in dealing with the drug prohibition issue. At least the idea of harm reduction has some traction. Which is a better policy than straight prohibition.

As to treatment:

There is no possible treatment that works under the "drugs cause addiction" idea. The world has been working from that premise for over 80 years and nothing works. With treatment 5% a year quit heroin. Without treatment 5% a year quit heroin. Aproximately the same is true about alcohol, pot, and most drugs other than tobacco.

If we start working from the "chronic pain causes chronic drug use" idea then we will get somewhere. Of course the medical answer for chronic pain is to give the patient drugs which will relieve the pain at the minimum harm to the patient.

The Salvation Army operates on the "drugs cause addiction model". Of course they see problems with safe injection rooms. If I held to that model I would too.

========================

The corpse is just another "side benefit" of prohibition.

You can read more about the "pain causes addiction" model here:

http://surrealist.org/prayforpeace/msimon.html

Posted by: M. Simon at April 21, 2003 03:36 AM