Melbourne Crown Casino Turns Recruitment Ground For Loan Sharks
Professional as well as amateur gamblers visit Melbourne’s Crown Casino on a regular basis to try their luck at the casino tables. Just like most casinos, the majority of gamblers end up losing and getting into huge amounts of debt with loan sharks. Recent reports confirm that loan sharks are using Melbourne’s Crown Casino to specifically target gamblers who are bound to lose and get themselves into debt.
Once these loan sharks hook these problem gamblers they then pressurize these victims to either pay back the loan with interest or to accept the responsibility of looking after hydroponic cannabis crops that are estimated to be worth millions. These targeted gamblers are forced to babysit the houses where cannabis is grown.
Reports also confirm that an organized Asian mafia are also targeting problem gamblers and coercing them to become heroin mules. For each successful mule they recruit, the Asian mafia gets paid $5000. The mule is mostly used to bring heroin from Vietnam into different parts of Australia. The state of Victoria has prosecuted more than 12 cannabis cropsitters during the past 24 months who were all recruited at the Crown Casino.
One of those prosecuted cropsitters stated that he was in charge of 346 cannabis plants which were being cultivated in St Albans. County Court Judge John Smallwood told the accused
You were recruited at the casino, on what I have been told. As has been pointed out by other judges many times in recent years, that is rich picking for people who wish to get people to sit crops or import drugs
The loan sharks are highly trained and know who to approach and how to gain their trust and confidence. Once these unsuspecting gamblers fall into the clutches of these loan sharks, they are given the option of paying back the loan, becoming an international drug mule or a cannabis babysitter.
These loan sharks take these problem gamblers to isolated locations where they give them a crash course in cultivating drugs or smuggling drugs depending on what choice they make. Once they satisfy the loan shark that they are capable of doing the job, they are then sent out to the location to get the job done.
Authorities and news channels in Melbourne, Australia have broadcasted raids on these cannabis farms in an effort to educate and warn the people of Victoria. The Crown Melbourne was not willing to make any comment on accusations that its premises were a hunting ground for the drug mafia.
David WalkerAuthor
David is our resident 'down under' contributor, letting us know what is going on in the southern hemisphere, he is also keen blackjack player
