Oz 'bikie gangs' recruiting drug mules on Facebook

Sydney Sun (ANI) Monday 6th February, 2012

Australia's dangerous outlaw motorcycle gangs are using social networking sites such as Facebook to recruit drug mules, the country's top crime body has revealed.

The Australian Crime Commission's chief executive John Lawler has revealed how 'high-risk' crime groups had used social networks to recruit associates and people to help with criminal activity, especially in illicit drug distribution, The Advertiser reports.

News.com.au quoted Lawler, as saying that the commission intelligence had identified a number of people buying drugs on behalf of this outlaw motorcycle gang who had been recruited via social media.

In South Australia last year a man with no known history of drug crime was recruited online and later charged by police for possessing illegal chemicals.

Lawler revealed how a bikie associate befriended the man on social media and then referred him to a website connected to the gang.

He said the man was then asked via email to buy chemicals through a company overseas, collect them on their arrival in Adelaide and deliver them to a gang member.

Meanwhile, South Austrlia police declined to comment in any depth about the recruiting methods of bikie gangs.

According to the report, recruiting people on social media to traffic drugs has been a problem across Asia for three years, particularly in the Philippines and Malaysia. (ANI)