Tassie spike in arrests for ice
TASMANIA recorded the biggest jump in ice arrests last financial year but like other states, police here nabbed more users than suppliers.
The latest illicit drug report from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission shows the number of arrests for methylamphetamine possession in Tasmania climbed from 510 in 2016-17 to 551 last financial year.
Almost 4kg of ice was taken off the streets in 613 seizures across the state.
The price paid for illicit drugs in Australia is among the highest in the world and the report said Tasmanians were paying more for ice than users on the mainland.
However, the purity of what they receive is much lower.
The price for a street deal here is $100 for 0.1 grams, compared to a national median of $65.
The purity level in Tasmania is just 48.6 per cent compared to 82.4 per cent in Victoria.
Tasmania Police arrested a man in January who was found with $1 million worth of ice in his underpants at Hobart Airport.
In the lead-up to the 2018 election the State Government said it would appoint a team of ice investigators as part of its push for Tasmania to boast the lowest use of crystal methamphetamine in the nation by 2022.
That team, which would see two specialist ice investigators attached to drug squads in each region and work with the state’s seven drug detection dogs, has not been put together.
Commission chief executive Michael Phelan said serious and organised criminals were at the centre of Australia’s illicit drug market and they were motivated by greed, power and profit.
A record 30.6 tonnes of illicit drugs were seized nationally with methylamphetamine remaining one of the most consumed and seized drugs.
“The estimated street value of the weight of amphetamines, MDMA, cocaine and heroin seized nationally in 2017-18 is nearly $5 billion, underlining the size of the black economy that relates to illicit drugs alone,” he said.
Other records reported in 2017-18 included 5096 national cocaine seizures and 4325 arrests involving that drug.