Cocaine trading: Eastern suburbs police ready for summer ‘peak season’

Police have pledged to take on cocaine dealers flocking to Sydney’s eastern suburbs, where detectives nabbed six alleged suppliers and $40,000 worth of cocaine in a single day.

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Police have pledged to take on cocaine dealers coming from all corners of greater Sydney to target cashed up buyers in the eastern suburbs, where detectives nabbed six alleged suppliers and $40,000 worth of cocaine in a single day.

Police will “redeploy” resources to party precincts at Double Bay, Bondi Beach and Bondi Junction this summer.

Five men and a woman, all alleged dealers, were arrested on Saturday and early Sunday in a covert sting.

Benjamin Spinks was arrested on drug charges and granted bail.

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They included Ronald Jeffrey Heise and his friend Benjamin Spinks, who were allegedly pulled over in Bondi Beach carrying $3255 cash at about 5.30pm.

The two 26-year-olds from The Oaks and Oakdale in Sydney’s south-west were charged with cocaine supply and dealing in the proceeds of crime.

Paddington 31-year-old Barry Wooldridge was allegedly caught with the deadly party drug GHB in the early hours of Sunday and charged with possession.

Ronald Heise was arrested on drug charges and granted bail.

Spinks and his co-charged carried $3255 in cash, police say.

Parramatta Bail Court heard Wooldridge was already on bail for drug supply and possession charges but was released after explaining doctors had recently removed his right eye to stop a horrific infection caused by pneumonia.

Eastern suburbs crime manager Peter Glynn said his “seasonal” command was widely targeted by dealers and his officers were prepared this summer.

“They come from further south than south-west Sydney — we get them from inside the jurisdiction and western suburbs and north-western suburbs,” Insp Glynn said.

“Bondi is not necessary our only focus … Double Bay, Bondi Junction and Bondi Beach are our three major entertainment areas.

Heise fell foul of the law last weekend.

“We will redeploy resources to target crime over the summer period.”

He said a “proactive crime team” was specifically to targeting the east’s drug and alcohol related crime.

“(We take) a covert approach in terms of drug supply and, as you can see from Saturday night, with very positive results,” Insp Glynn said.

A 25-year-old woman and two other men in their 20s were also charged with drug supply as police seized 130g of cocaine and more than $10,000 cash in Saturday’s operation.

Crime statistics show the east’s vast demand for cocaine – in Bondi Beach, cocaine use/possession soared from nine incidents in the year to June 2014 to 106 in the year to June 2018. Drug offences in general doubled over the same period.

Cocaine use/possession across the whole Waverley council area also jumped from 36 to 163 in the past five years. In the neighbouring jurisdiction of Woollahra the number rose from 33 to 111.