Cruise passengers charged in drug bust

FOUR cruise ship passengers have been charged with possessing prohibited drugs following a police operation at Sydney's Darling Harbour prior to boarding for a gay cruise.

At about 1pm (AEST) yesterday, police from the Marine Area Command, Customs personnel and the drug dog squad detected five people in possession of illicit drugs from 1200 passengers boarding a ship for a three-day New South Wales cruise.

A 38-year-old Surry Hills man, who was allegedly detected with 20 tablets, was arrested and charged with supply and possess a prohibited drug.
A 26-year-old man from Wantirna in Victoria, a 35-year-old man from Glenmore in Victoria, and a 37-year-old Darlinghurst man were all charged with possessing prohibited drugs after dogs allegedly detected drugs including LSD, speed and GHB.

They will all appear at the Downing Centre Local Court on April 24.
A 55-year-old man was issued a caution notice after he was allegedly found to be in possession of one gram of cannabis.

Sergeant John Cox from the Marine Area Command said the drug dog operation was launched based on risk assessment and intelligence.

"Police will continue to conduct similar operations based on information we gather and we will continue to arrest and charge any person in possession of illicit drugs," he said.
The cruise ship was allowed to set sail at 6pm (AEST).

My thoughts on this story:

Well done to the police, the cost of the operation would have been into the tens of thousands of dollars to arrest 5 people out of 1200.

It seems we will have to get use to the attention, aren't we lucky we ask for more police protection and this is what we get, the drug squad with dogs......great.

My gosh what about spending the money on protecting the gay community.

I feel safer walking out of a gay club in Adelaide than Sydney.

History - What has led to this...

At a straight rave party a girl died of an overdose, what the media failed to tell us was that this girl walked from the party on her own, and died the next day at her home.
So is the party responsible for her death??? (I was told this fact by one of the medical team at another party)

A week later the police with a massive police presence with drug dogs closed down the Azure (Harbour Party) 2 hours early after arresting 26 people on various possesion and using recreational drugs.

Then they followed this up with yet another large presence with dogs outside the Mardi Gras After Party at Fox Studio's, then the raids on all the Gay Clubs olong Oxford St, now the searches prior to going on a Gay Cruise..all in the Month of March.. whats next?

Please comment..