Date Time
Cocaine filled vessel seized off NSW coast, one man arrested
A 27-year-old South Australian man is expected to appear in Sydney Central Local Court today following the seizure of approximately 200 kilograms of cocaine allegedly located on board a vessel off the New South Wales coast.
Australian Federal Police obtained intelligence at the weekend in relation to a cargo vessel allegedly containing a large quantity of cocaine bound for Australia.
The AFP established Operation Poitiers with the New South Wales Police Force, Australian Border Force, New South Wales Crime Commission and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission on Saturday, 6 March 2021.
2021-03-12 02:05:28 GMT2021-03-12 10:05:28(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
SYDNEY, March 12 (Xinhua) The Australian police have seized a boat packed with an estimated 200 kg of cocaine off the coast of New South Wales (NSW) near Sydney, authorities revealed Friday.
A 27-year-old man was charged in relation to the haul, worth an estimated 90 million Australian dollars (70 million U.S. dollars) on the street.
According to a joint statement by local law enforcement, the Australian Federal Police were tipped off last weekend that a cargo vessel was allegedly carrying a large quantity of cocaine bound for Australia.
Police then tracked the vessel as it made its way to Sydney. The drugs were transferred to a smaller vessel before dawn on Thursday, which was intercepted by law enforcement as it made its way to shore.
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Sweeping new powers for the AFP and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission could see innocent users of social media services such as WhatsApp deemed criminals.
By
Karen Middleton.
AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw at senate estimates last year.
Credit: AAP Image / Mick Tsikas
People who use social media platforms that others may use for crime, such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, could be deemed part of a criminal network and have their bank, email and other online accounts disrupted or seized under sweeping proposed police powers.
The new legislation creates three new kinds of warrants that would give the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) sweeping disruption and surveillance powers.
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Human rights activists have pushed for a new online surveillance bill to be culled, saying it s a draconian and extreme infringement on people s right to privacy.
Bill Rowlings, CEO of rights group Civil Liberties Australia, has called for the proposed Surveillance Legislation Amendment Identify and Disrupt Bill 2020 to be abandoned. These are particularly draconian and particularly bad, so my message would be to throw these out, start again and get some proper consultation from the beginning, he told SBS News. They are draconian, right wing, extreme, they are removing civil liberties and human rights from Australians.
Kieran Pender from the Human Rights Law centre presents a statement to a parliamentary committee.
Senators concerned hacking Bill powers could be used beyond intended scope
Parliamentary committee wants to avoid the legislation being used beyond its intention, as was seen with Australia s data retention laws.
March 11, 2021 06:09 GMT (22:09 PST) | Topic: Security
Senators are concerned that they are yet to hear a convincing argument as to why the
Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020 has omitted definitions for the categories of offences it would be used for by two of Australia s law enforcement bodies.
The Bill, if passed, would hand the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) three new computer warrants for dealing with online crime.