300kg ice haul unlikely to affect drug’s supply or price in NSW

In the last month, close to a tonne of ice has been seized in Sydney. What’s more staggering is that police can take such a huge amount of drugs out of the market and the void is filled almost instantly, writes Crime Editor Mark Morri.

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The whole city thought it was hilarious this week when a Hi-Ace van crashed into a police car outside Eastwood police station while allegedly loaded with more than 200kg of meth.

What's not so funny is that even a massive bust like this won’t make a dent in the supply of ice or cause the price to rise.

“Unfortunately there is so much around that it won’t be felt on the streets,” former NSW Drug Squad boss Nick Bingham said.

The week before the hapless 26-year-old alleged drug dealer ran up the back of a police car outside Eastwood police station, three former navy sailors were charged after police allegedly found more than 100kg of the drug ice in the back of a ute parked in a Malabar driveway.

That's more than 300kg of misery and pain seized in less than a week in the back of cars driving around our city.

Yet there will not be a shortage of the drug on the streets of country towns around NSW or the rest of the country this weekend or in the foreseeable future.

A man has been charged after more than 270kg of methylamphetamine was allegedly found in a van which crashed into a parked police van outside Eastwood Police Station. Picture: NSW Police Media

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For some reason both busts got more publicity than the July 5 arrest of four men in Sydney who were allegedly related to 585kg of ice found by Australian Federal Police at a Sydney container facility.

It’s staggering that you can suddenly take that amount of drugs out of the market — and the void is filled almost instantly.

“Years ago, arresting someone with more than a kilo of heroin was front page news,” retired Detective Superintendent Bingham said.

“It also meant that the supply of drugs to the city and the price would be effected for weeks. “But not anymore, it’s ho-hum, when there are seizures of what would be considered enormous quantities,” he said.

“There are waves of shipments coming into the country, by sea and smaller lots by air. It's just the sad state of play in the current world.”

At one stage, there was so much ice being brought into the country, NSW police heard rumours that containers were buried in rural properties with tonnes of the drug or precursors for a rainy day.

An AFP and NSW police investigation has led to the seizure of methylamphetamine worth nearly $400 million and the arrest of four men in Sydney on July 5.

Like everyone else I laughed when I heard about an alleged drug dealer getting busted with $200 million dollars in ice because he couldn't drive properly.

But when you look at the size of the drug seizures and the amount of misery it causes, that crash shouldn't make anyone laugh.

In fact, it’s more of a grimace that we are now that blase to drug seizures.

It’s only if the alleged culprits caught are incredibly stupid or perhaps good looking that we even take notice.