Drug syndicates using ‘Green nomads’ to run drugs on highways to Gold Coast

Sophisticated drug syndicates are using older, less suspicious people, who police have dubbed, ‘green nomads’ to run their illicit substances to the Gold Coast.

SOPHISTICATED drug syndicates are using older, less suspicious people, who police have dubbed, ‘green nomads’ to run their illicit substances to the Gold Coast.

Historically the trend would see drug mules run cannabis across Australia’s vast highway networks in crafty hiding places in their cars, so much so, that police dubbed the older drug runners, ‘green nomads’, a play on the elder traveller nickname of grey nomad.

Now, as security has tightened across airports due to terrorism threats, syndicates and gangs are running their large quantities of drugs up highways to meet the market.

“The security at airports made flying things very hard, everything is searched now,” a police source said.

“We used to get a lot of jobs like this, the green nomads, running drugs up highways, looking less suspicious because of their age.

“It’s not always older people though, desperate people, will do desperate things.”

The source said it was difficult to police, with thousands, upon thousands of cars driving along those same highways everyday, picking the right car, without prior investigations, was like finding a needle in a haystack.

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Weapons police allegedly found.

The revelations come as police pull off a massive meth bust, finding 12 kilograms of ice hidden in a car, allegedly driven by a 67-year-old Varsity Lakes man, on April 11.

It will be alleged he was driving to the Coast from Sydney, when he was pulled over in Reedy Creek.

They followed it up with a raid on April 14, of a Burleigh Heads address, allegedly linked to the man, where they found more drugs, a number of firearms and even a distraction grenade.

Apart from two speeding fines, dealt with in court in 2002, the accused is a cleanskin.

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Drugs allegedly found by police.

While not speaking about the recent bust, detective acting Superintendent Bruno Asnicar said generally police are pulling over and flagging more cars than ever before, as they become more intune with what the gangs and drug syndicates are up to.

“We’re looking at a range of things, certainly road transport is a high priority for us,” Supt Asnicar said.

“There’s thousands and thousands of cars going up and down the highway and the vast majority of them we don’t touch and don’t interact with police in anyway, whether it’s a ticket or just getting pulled up.

“On the flip side of that, we are more tuned into criminal organisation then we’ve ever been and I think we are being a bit smarter too, we use technology as much as the crooks do.

“If you look at the percentage of things we are looking at, cars that we stop, vehicles that we flag, it’s probably a lot higher now, than it ever was.”

A rifle.

Supt Asnicar said the end goal of these types of operations was to plug the borders by finding who is importing the drugs and tracking down those bringing them to our shores.

“I think it would be reasonable to say, in all likelihood, there is large importations coming into the country that are being split up into various syndicates.

“We are seeing cocaine and methamphetamine moved through a number of different organised criminal groups, we will always be working on finding where that nexus point is.

“The ultimate objective is to plug our borders … some of it’s coming out of China, Columbia, Mexico, Chile, we are seeing it come from a number of places.

“It’s not one particular spot on the globe that’s importing all of the drugs into us, our crooks and crooks from overseas are seeing opportunities in Australia and maximising their profitability.

“Shutting the whole show down is the game.”

Drugs allegedly found by police.

He said Queensland Police had done a great job in containing the bikies, although those with a criminal streak, were still involved in crime.

“Life is hard for them, they can’t get together anymore, they can’t have clubhouses, but the bikies are still crooks.

“The dedicated criminals amongst them, will still commit criminal activity and they’ll get involved in drugs, as we’ve seen in this (recent bust).

“It’s quite reasonable to suggest groups will be pushing things into Queensland through criminal associates.”

The 67-year-old is due back in court on April 24.