Australian dad goes undercover to bust Chinese drug dealers
Australian Rodney Bridge went undercover as a drug buyer to expose the booming drug business in the Chinese city of Hefei. Bridge is not a policeman or a private investigator. He is father hunting down who and what killed his son.
Bridge’s 16-year-old son Preston died in February 2013 after taking a synthetic drug designed to mimic the effect of LSD. Preston jumped off a balcony of a hotel building because he thought he could fly.
Bridge found out that his son took one tablet of a drug called 25I-NBOMe, a chemical originally produced for medical imaging purposes that has also been used as a psychedelic drug. 25I-NBOMe is a white powder that can cause fast heartbeat, hypertension, fidgetiness, aggressiveness, hallucinations and spasms.
The drug came from China and is sold in Australia as synthetic LSD. Bridge then went undercover and went on the trip with an Australian reporter from 60 Minutes.
Upon meeting the drug dealers, Bridge discovered that the drug can be shipped easily in massive amounts. The drug dealer even offered to sell Bridge 100 kilos.
The dealers also demonstrated how easy it is to mask the drug from dog sniffers in airports, by hiding it in water tanks and sealed packages. Delivery is promised within seven days, to the customer’s doorstep. If the drugs are confiscated by the customs, they offer to replace it at 50% the cost. But Bridge was assured not to worry because “Australia is safe.”
The dealers sell a variety of drugs, but have no idea how it will affect the person who will take it. Bridge was just advised that they were different drugs with different effects, and to just try the drugs and see if he likes the effects.
In an interview with Justice Minister Michael Keenan, he said the country is now imposing a blanket ban on illicit drugs and that the customs is using sniffing dogs to detect the drugs.
However, a drug testing expert Tyren Edwards says that bomb sniffing dogs can’t detect synthetic drugs since dogs are only attuned to natural compounds like cocaine and marijuana.
After the episode aired on 60 Minutes, the Anhui police in China are now investigating the synthetic drug market in the area.
60 Minutes Australia says that for many this may be an unwinnable war, but for Rod Bridge, he just wants to make sure that his son will not be forgotten.
