CANBERRA, May 20 - Over 23.8 tonnes of drugs worth over 5 billion Australian dollars (almost 4.86 billion US dollars) were seized nationally in Australia between 2011 and 2012, a 154 percent increase from 9.3 tonnes seized in 2010-11, latest report of the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) said on Monday.The Illicit Drug Data Report 2011-12, the ACC's annual illicit drug data report, showed that there were also 93,000 drug-related arrests, and a record 809 hidden drug laboratories were discovered.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus said the relative height of the Australian dollar, the relative wealth of this country compared to others at the moment means Australia is a target.
Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare, who formally released the report, said that the key to stopping drugs is police teamwork and criminal intelligence.
"We need to expand the use of both, and that's exactly what we' re doing," he said.
"85 percent of the drugs that we seize are because of criminal intelligence that our law enforcement agencies collect before the drugs ever arrive in Australia."
The ACC also announced record seizures of hormones in performance and image-enhancing drugs. Executive director of ACC Paul Jevtovic said the sports drug area is on the rise, hence the commission's focus on drugs in sport.
"In relation to hormones, it's the highest reported detections that we've had in the last decade," he said. "Steroids for example are also one of those things used, and we actually incorporate steroids and hormones in the category of image-enhancing drugs."
