Crime bosses allegedly grooming young women to smuggle drugs into music festivals
RUTHLESS crime bosses are allegedly grooming young women to smuggle drugs into music festivals — preying on girls with clean records and “luring” them with the promise of “a quick profit … paid on the night”.
NSW
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FRESH-FACED young women are being “groomed” by ruthless crime bosses to smuggle drugs into music festivals, the state’s top drug cops have warned.
Chosen for their clean records and enticed by promises of quick money, many are convinced to conceal drugs inside their bodies, with the illicit substances handed over once past security.
But detectives warn when caught the women are abandoned to face the full force of the law by themselves.
“People, particularly women, should be aware they can and will be groomed in carrying drugs for organised crime networks and individuals,” Drug and Firearms Squad commander, Detective Superintendent Peter McErlain said.
“But at the end of the day, if they are caught, they will be discarded by them like pieces of rubbish.”
Police arrested nine women accused of smuggling MDMA pills into the Midnight Mafia Music Festival earlier this month.
Four were detected in the space of 75 minutes by the drug-busting South West Metropolitan Region Enforcement Squad as they entered the festival at Sydney Olympic Park.
Police will allege in court all were mules paid by dealers. A number allegedly had hundreds of capsules concealed inside their bodies.
While not commenting on any cases presently before the courts, Squad commander Detective Chief Inspector Gus Viera said drug dealers were targeting young women.
“I am very concerned about how many young girls are being lured into this,” Chief Supt Viera said.
“They meet through friends, they think it’s a quick profit being paid on the night and that will be the end of it, well it won’t. We’re asking their friends and family to question them before they go out.”
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Grace Poo, a 21-year-old marketing and social media officer for a Sydney meditation centre, was allegedly carrying 294 grams of MDMA in almost 1600 capsules “with the intent of entering the Sydney Olympic Park to attend a dance party,” police claimed in court bail documents.
“This is the accused’s first drug charge, with only two previous stealing offences recorded,” the documents said.
Trisha Nguyen, 19, who looked stunned as she fronted Burwood Local Court last week, allegedly went to great lengths to conceal 200 MDMA capsules at the festival.
The drugs were “wrapped in several condoms concealed in her person”, court documents allege.
Helen Tran, a 21-year-old administration worker who lives with her parents in Chester Hill, also allegedly concealed the drugs internally.
“There is a strong prosecution case as the drugs were found within the accused,” police allege in court documents.
And 18-year-old Yen Nhi Tina Pham from Condell Park was allegedly carrying 28.53 grams of MDMA in 181 capsules when she was stopped just after 5pm.
A week after the festival police arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly supplying 400 MDMA tablets for distribution at both Midnight Mafia and April’s A State of Trance festivals. Chief Insp Viera’s squad also nabbed a 23-year-old woman at A State of Trance.