US Sailors in 1m$ Drug bust

[Thesifer]

Ok.. This is wierd because I know the "Two Sailors" mentioned in this story.. I spent a couple years serving with them.. as the Boxer is my old Command.. This is rather shocking to me. I never would have guessed.

I would copy and paste the story here.. but they don't allow right clicking.. and I don't want to spend the time..

http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,15567292%255E14787,00.html

[DankNstickY]

Captain Tom Culora, of the USS Boxer (NK504019)



Sailors, Canadian in $1m drug bust
By HAYLEY SEENEY
10jun05

TWO United States sailors and a Canadian citizen face life in prison on charges they imported 11kg of amphetamine into Townsville.

The estimated street value of that amount of amphetamine, which was wrapped up as gifts is about $1.1 million.

The Townsville Magistrates Court yesterday heard the drugs arrived in Australia via the USS Boxer, which is moored in the Townsville Port as part of a mass joint US-Australian military exercise.

Daniel Christopher Maio, 36, of the US, Andrew Lester Labanon, 39, of the US, and Mehdi Mohammadi, 34, a Canadian citizen living in Australia on a tourist visa, fronted the court yesterday morning.

They faced charges of attempting to import a prohibited import contrary to the provisions of the Customs Act 1901. It is alleged the drugs were imported for commercial use.

None of the men applied for bail and all were held in custody until their next court appearance.

Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions barrister Aaron Guilfoyle told the court Labanon is a serviceman on board the USS Boxer and used the ship to import the 11kg of a "amphetamine-type substance".

Mr Guilfoyle said Maio was also a serviceman of the USS Boxer, however, travelled to Townsville independently because he is on leave.

The drugs and $US10,000 ($13,030) cash were discovered by Australian Federal Police (AFP) on Wednesday night following a four-day operation.

An AFP spokeswoman yesterday said the operation was an "intelligence" driven investigation.

US Navy and Navy Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) are in Townsville investigating the incident. If found guilty, it is understood the US soldiers could face discharge.

The AFP spokeswoman said police would claim that Maio and Mohammadi were arrested at a service station at Alligator Creek with the 11kg of drugs concealed as gift-wrapped packages in a vehicle.

She said police would allege that Labanon was arrested at a Townsville hotel. She said during a search of the hotel room a number of items including $US10,000 in cash were seized by police.

US Navy 7th Fleet public affairs spokesman Commander Robert Mulac had only just found out about the charges when he spoke to the Townsville Bulletin yesterday.

"I am a little surprised and disappointed," Cdr Mulac said.

"Because when a person becomes a sailor the core values you learn are honour, courage and commitment. We don't condone drug use and have an absolutely zero tolerance approach.

"We want to stress the statement if you use or possess illegal drugs you will be caught and prosecuted.

"We are disappointed but as far as our relationship (with Australia), we have a good, solid working relationship with the Government.

"The US Navy and Naval Criminal Investigation Service are working closely with the Australian Federal Police in this matter.

"But we are unequivocal, we will not permit or accept that sort of behaviour."

A US Consulate spokeswoman said a military attache from the consular would be monitoring the situation.

"Basically, when someone has been arrested, any US citizen in general, we act very much like the DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) office would," the spokeswoman said.

"We provide long and short term services, advise them of their rights, provide a list of lawyers and what options are there for legal aid, and if requested we visit them."

The spokeswoman, however, said she could not discuss any particulars about specific cases.

An Australian Customs spokesman said the agency provided intelligence and technical support of AFP officers during the operation.

There is a possibility US authorities could make a request for legal jurisdiction (under Section 10 of Australia's Defence Visiting Forces Act 1963) over the two sailors' prosecution.

Last year, an Australian civil case against two US marines accused of attacking a student with a bottle in a Townsville nightclub was dropped in favour of a trial by a US military court.

A spokeswoman for Federal Attorney General Philip Ruddock last night said Mr Ruddock was not aware of any request for jurisdiction by the US administration in the drugs case.

"The Attorney General considers drug offences of the nature alleged here to be most serious," the spokeswoman said.

"He would carefully consider any request he did receive appropriately and in accordance with the law."

Herbert MP Peter Lindsay said if the two US sailors were charged under US military jurisdiction, they would most likely be handed a harsher penalty.

"The Canadian resident living in Australia will be charged under Australian law," Mr Lindsay said.

The two American sailors are due to reappear in court on July 11.

Mohammadi will reappear again this morning.

[Burzhui]

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[BrewMaster]

I would think that if someone wanted to be a drug dealer they would just leave military service. But perhaps being a sailor is good cover. :shrug:

[molecularfire]

I know a couple of guys who joined the military because they didn't want to become drug dealers. :heh:

[Thesifer]

I knew they guys pretty well.. and Its wierd to see them as being the type.. I mean really "what is the type" . .but .. The Chief had been in for atleast 15 years.. I guess they got caught up in the money and the thought of never getting caught.. :shrug:

[Thesifer]

ctrl + A
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I would copy and paste the story here.. but they don't allow right clicking.. and I don't want to spend the time.. ( as in.. I know how to do it .. I just didn't have the time to at that point )

[graybeard]

Fifteen years ago I trained one of those sailors. I watched his career move on and mine stagnate. It was always about the money for him. The sad thing is the 3 kids that may never see their dad again.

[Thesifer]

Which one? ETC Maio or ET1 Labanon ? Labanon was a Navy Wrestler early on .. but he went on to get fat and stopped wrestling and sat at First Class for a While.. Chief Maio was about to Retire as a Chief from the navy.. which isnt that great.

[navyones]

Chief Maio was about to Retire as a Chief from the navy.. which isnt that great.

Hmmm....what is great? Anyone who can finish a Navy career and retire seems pretty decent in my book. It doesn't matter what rank a person retires at, because each job (rating) has different advancement opportunities.

I have known many great people, who retire as E-5, E-6, or E-7. They all had great careers, and they never got in trouble.

[Thesifer]

No more retiring at E-5 will happen.. atleast not too many more except the grandfathered ones :) .. Maybe I misspoke.. If I were retiring as a Chief I wouldn't think of that as my 'career moving on' Or the same as the ET1 that would have retired at E-6. Anyhow.. Just my personal opinion on the matter. But it doesn't really matter since both of them will be in prison the rest of their lives. I didn't create their stupid mistake.

[Grimm]

Drugs have ended a lot of Navy careers. For some reason people think they won't get caught.

[navyones]

Drugs have ended a lot of Navy careers. For some reason people think they won't get caught.

The Navy isn't the only service affected by drugs. The Navy may be the most publicized though.

The military is simply a cross-section of America. If the military has a drug problem, then the civillian drug problem is more than likely ten times as bad.

[Thesifer]

Well if you watch "Over There" people smoke pot regularly in Iraq right now, in the Army, and according to some thats typical for the real Army right now. Who knows, I'm not there, But I seriously doubt they are doing too many urinalysis tests and kicking out people they desperately need for something so minor as smoking Marijuana. The "Gateway Drug" As uneducated people that think they are call it.

[chrissy]

Thesifer, at Nellis, they will and have kicked out people for pot.

I am sure it's because of the mission here that they do it... or is it lack of mission here...

But as my dad said, they probably wouldn't touch someone in the sandbox just like they didn't in Viet Nam. But if they continue the habit over here, they will put their foot down.

[Thesifer]

Yeah.. We kick people out for drugs all of the time..

[navyones]

Who knows, I'm not there, But I seriously doubt they are doing too many urinalysis tests and kicking out people they desperately need for something so minor as smoking Marijuana. The "Gateway Drug" As uneducated people that think they are call it.

I can't speak for the other services, but the Navy has a "zero tolerance" policy. Approximately 20% of all personnel at any given command are randomly tested every week. If a positive test is discovered, that person is charged, prosecuted, and discharged. There are no second chances.

I don't really consider smoking marijuana to be minor, in regards to military life. I certainly wouldn't want to put my life in the hands of a stoned flight deck hand.

[Thesifer]

Haha.. As for Zero Tolerance and Random Testing, After Six years in the navy, I have ran into a few of those. I never said smoking and going to work would be minor. That is an offense I would consider almost as harsh as punishable by death. But at the same time I would also say the same thing about drinking and going to work. And drinking is legal, but you are not supposed to drink and go to work. So.. I consider the argument flawed. Sorry.

[graybeard]

Marijuana. Just a couple years ago, 21 people from a navy ship were busted for a nice little drug ring. Turns out the Urinalysis coordinator was in on the whole thing. Believe me, in 20 years I watched a whole lot of people leave for drugs. I even watched one guy get a second chance and blow it. What's funny is, since I retired 8 months ago, I've had 3 civilian piss tests.
But we forget, Dan and the other guy weren't doing the drugs, just capitalizing off the weakness of others. :fro:

[Thesifer]

Lester..

No they weren't. Soon to be Ex-Chief Maio wasn't even on the Boxer anymore. He left around the same time that I did. He flew out to Australia on Leave.