Australian tourists defy security warnings and head to Bali in record numbers
By Stephen Fitzpatrick in Jakarta
The Australian
December 23, 2008
Travel Australia
Bali tourist resort
Cheap holidays ... Aussie tourists are returning to Bali in greater numbers than ever, defying government security warnings and terrorism threats
* Aussies off to Bali in record numbers
* Ignoring security warnings, terror threats
* Garuda, Jetstar close to capacity
AUSTRALIAN tourists are returning to Bali in greater numbers than ever, defying government security warnings, terrorism threats, booze shortages and even a rabies outbreak to enjoy a cheap tropical Christmas holiday.
Garuda and Jetstar are running close to capacity to the Indonesian island, despite a downturn in arrivals last month linked to security concerns around the executions of the Bali bombers, The Australian reports.
"Advance bookings did drop off but there has been a lot of last-minute bookings for next week," Jetstar spokeswoman Simone Pregellio said.
"And our premium flights, like the Saturday Melbourne to Bali route, are chockers."
Garuda's Jane Milojevic concurred, saying that although a lot of schoolies trips appeared to have been deferred because of the executions, "we're confident that Bali will come out of it reasonably well, as people make their holiday plans and they start to reconsider going there".
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show Bali remains the third-most popular foreign holiday destination, behind Thailand and New Zealand.
Indonesian records put Australian arrivals in Bali to the end of September this year at about 230,000, with officials hoping this figure will swell to 350,000 next year.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Cocaine-smuggling grandparents use baby bank accounts to launder drug money
Cocaine-smuggling grandparents use baby bank accounts to launder drug money
The Daily Telegraph
December 23, 2008
Electronics Australian
Scam found ... cocaine-smuggling grandparents opened bank accounts in the names of their infant grandchildren to launder around $20 million
* Cocaine-smuggling grandparents open accounts
* Use names of their infant grandchildren
* Scam revealed when money used to buy cars, property
COCAINE-smuggling grandparents opened bank accounts in the names of their infant grandchildren to launder around $20 million, it has been revealed.
But the scam came unstuck when investigators became suspicious after the accounts were used to buy luxury cars and property.
It was among the most elaborate financial scams of the year, uncovered by the country's anti-money laundering regulator, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.
"The amounts of money were very unusual for childrens' accounts," AusTRAC chief executive Neil Jensen said.
In another case, a sharp-eyed bank teller foiled a three-year-old $6.3 million crime after spotting a thief trying to launder what was - literally - dirty money.
The man had started digging up notes he had buried after scamming one ATM over four months using stolen credit cards and was depositing the $50 bills into his bank accounts.
The bank teller noticed the notes felt "washed" and "waxy".
Police arrested the man, charged him with money laundering and recovered $4.5 million in cash.
Legitimate businesses such as restaurants and grocers were used to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars raised under the guise of charities to a terrorist organisation in South East Asia.
Others incidents included a Canadian crime syndicate which sent members to Australia to place skimming devices on ATMs to copy card details.
And lonely men were fleeced of up to $30,000 each after choosing Russian "brides" from a dating website.
They were asked for upfront payments for air tickets for the brides but the trick was discovered when AusTRAC tracked substantial sums of money being remitted to Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania and Hungary.
Mr Jensen said that while scams were becoming more elaborate, cracking them often came down to the frontline troops, like bank tellers spotting what was suspicious.
There were more than 20 million transactions reported to AusTRAC in 2008, including an increase of 20 per cent in the number of suspected illegal transactions.
Every wire transfer of money in and out of the country and nearly 3 million transactions involving $10,000 or more were also notified.
Over five weeks in July and August, the Australian Federal Police and Customs working with AusTRAC charged 37 people with 87 charges and stopped 14.6 tonnes of drugs with a street value of $3billion from being distributed.
The Daily Telegraph
December 23, 2008
Electronics Australian
Scam found ... cocaine-smuggling grandparents opened bank accounts in the names of their infant grandchildren to launder around $20 million
* Cocaine-smuggling grandparents open accounts
* Use names of their infant grandchildren
* Scam revealed when money used to buy cars, property
COCAINE-smuggling grandparents opened bank accounts in the names of their infant grandchildren to launder around $20 million, it has been revealed.
But the scam came unstuck when investigators became suspicious after the accounts were used to buy luxury cars and property.
It was among the most elaborate financial scams of the year, uncovered by the country's anti-money laundering regulator, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.
"The amounts of money were very unusual for childrens' accounts," AusTRAC chief executive Neil Jensen said.
In another case, a sharp-eyed bank teller foiled a three-year-old $6.3 million crime after spotting a thief trying to launder what was - literally - dirty money.
The man had started digging up notes he had buried after scamming one ATM over four months using stolen credit cards and was depositing the $50 bills into his bank accounts.
The bank teller noticed the notes felt "washed" and "waxy".
Police arrested the man, charged him with money laundering and recovered $4.5 million in cash.
Legitimate businesses such as restaurants and grocers were used to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars raised under the guise of charities to a terrorist organisation in South East Asia.
Others incidents included a Canadian crime syndicate which sent members to Australia to place skimming devices on ATMs to copy card details.
And lonely men were fleeced of up to $30,000 each after choosing Russian "brides" from a dating website.
They were asked for upfront payments for air tickets for the brides but the trick was discovered when AusTRAC tracked substantial sums of money being remitted to Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania and Hungary.
Mr Jensen said that while scams were becoming more elaborate, cracking them often came down to the frontline troops, like bank tellers spotting what was suspicious.
There were more than 20 million transactions reported to AusTRAC in 2008, including an increase of 20 per cent in the number of suspected illegal transactions.
Every wire transfer of money in and out of the country and nearly 3 million transactions involving $10,000 or more were also notified.
Over five weeks in July and August, the Australian Federal Police and Customs working with AusTRAC charged 37 people with 87 charges and stopped 14.6 tonnes of drugs with a street value of $3billion from being distributed.
Girlfriend of David Hicks, Aloysia Brooks, tells media to leave her man alone
Girlfriend of David Hicks, Aloysia Brooks, tells media to leave her man alone
By Verity Edwards
The Australian
December 23, 2008
Dating Australia
SHE is the new woman in the changing life of former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks. And Aloysia Brooks, a postgraduate student, is fiercely outspoken in defence of her man.
After flying in with Mr Hicks to spend his first Christmas in nine years at home with his family in Adelaide, Ms Brooks yesterday took The Australian aside to plead to "give him space".
Mr Hicks was no longer a "confessed terrorism supporter", she said, despite the former kangaroo skinner's guilty plea before a US military commission last year.
"You don't know what went on there; you don't know under what conditions he signed (the confession)," Ms Brooks said.
Mr Hicks should instead be referred to as a free man after the expiry of a court-imposed control order last Saturday.
Freeing Mr Hicks after more than seven years in custody, including five years at the US military's controversial prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, was what brought the couple together.
Ms Brooks writes poetry on human rights issues and was this year enrolled at the University of Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. A Sydney woman with her distinctive first name leapt to Mr Hicks's defence on a newspaper website in 2006.
"David Hicks is someone's brother, son and father," Aloysia wrote. "He gets scared, bleeds and feels pain just like you or I ... He is someone who deserves to be treated with dignity, respect and compassion no matter what he has done."
Ms Brooks also signed a petition last year calling for justice for then-terror suspect Mohamed Haneef.
The romance blossomed after Mr Hicks moved from his home town of Adelaide to Sydney six months ago, where he found it easier to access rehabilitation services and settle back into the community.
The couple, photographed together for the first time by The Australian yesterday, kept their relationship under wraps until now.
Mr Hicks remained tightlipped when he flew into Adelaide to meet his father, Terry, his staunchest defender through his imprisonment.
Terry Hicks said he was pleased to have his son and new partner home for their first Christmas together this decade.
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