Attorney-General Kyam Maher pledges nearly $9m to help prepare for flood of Ironside cases

SA’s Operation Ironside arrests are heading towards potentially long, complex, court cases – requiring millions of dollars before trials start.

Three courtrooms will be revamped, new sheriffs hired and a raft of new prosecutors brought on to handle an expected flood of Operation Ironside matters on their way to trial.

The Attorney-General has released a breakdown of his Budget commitment of $8.8m specifically to address the more than 100 arrests in South Australia as part of the international operation.

Around $6m has been committed to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to hire new staff while the remaining $2.8m has been committed to the Courts Administration Authority.

Around 110 South Australians are before the courts as part of Operation Ironside, with several facing multiple criminal charges across separate court files.

In some cases accused are facing allegations of trafficking millions of dollars in drugs as well as conspiracy to murder, bash or commit arson.

The AN0M app was being used by police to watch and monitor illegal activity, leading to Operation Ironside. Picture: Olivier Morin / AFP

Three courts in the Sir Samuel Way building will be upgraded to allow for up seven defendants at a time to sit in the dock and with space for their lawyers.

Several of the larger alleged drug syndicates arrested as part of Ironside include up to eight defendants facing as many as 81 charges.

Additional sheriffs officers will also be hired along with new judges’ associates to help streamline the flow of large amounts of evidence.

Attorney-General Kyam Maher said Operation Ironside remains one of the largest law enforcement activities carried out in Australia.

“These are incredibly serious matters, with individuals facing charges that include conspiracy to commit murder, participating in a criminal organisation, money laundering, trafficking in large commercial and commercial quantities of methylamphetamine, fantasy, MDMA, cocaine, heroin and cannabis, and firearms offences,” he said.

Many of the Operation Ironside matters are stuck in legal limbo as a test case is prepared to test the legality of the warrants used to intercept millions of messages over the encrypted AN0M app.

A second test case – which involves accused on federal charges in particular – is being mounted in the eastern states and is being masterminded by leading barrister Bret Walker SC.

The vast majority of the SA Ironside cases are still in the Magistrates Court where counsel for the accused have asked for multiple adjournments because of the sheer number of messages handed over by the DPP.

However, Magistrate John Wells, who has presided over the Ironside matters since June last year, has drawn a line in the sand giving many accused one final adjournment until hearings in August or September to finally enter a plea.

Originally published as Attorney-General Kyam Maher pledges nearly $9m to help prepare for flood of Ironside cases