Waitress Julie Souza on student visa charged in major drug bust
It began with the arrest of 38 alleged drug dealers including former reality star Jordan Finlayson. Strike Force Petal have now made further arrests including a Brazilian waitress accused of allowing her home to be used as a drugs premises.
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It began with the low-level dealers — 38 men and women allegedly selling high-grade heroin from their housing commission apartments in Redfern and Waterloo.
Now, police tracking a street-level drug syndicate are moving to break-up the mid-level suppliers, the alleged distributors selling wholesale amounts to supply the customers on the streets.
Julie Souza, a Brazilian waitress on a student visa, and her Australian boyfriend Jake Hudson, both high-value targets of Strike Force Petal, were arrested on Thursday after a months-long investigation into heroin and crystal methamphetamine sales around Sydney’s inner suburbs.
Inside their Rosebery unit police allegedly discovered illegal items, including a. 38 calibre revolver hidden under a mattress, two ounces of crystal methamphetamine stashed in a bedroom cupboard, 1.5l of the drug GBL or “Fantasy”, more than 3000 Xanax tablets, and thousands of dollars in cash.
Souza, 25, was charged with possessing the gun and allowing her home to be used as a drug premises. Hudson, 30, faces the same charges, along with more serious allegations relating to the weapon and drug supply.
Despite living outside Redfern, police allege Hudson was supplying the drugs consumed by street-level customers in that area and beyond, the sales of which were organised using encrypted messaging apps.
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The arrests are the latest in a series of take-downs targeting the upper-levels of the Redfern-based syndicate.
A week ago officers raided the Waterloo home of two other alleged suppliers with links to Hudson — Martin Roser, 30, an old school friend, and Roser’s girlfriend, the former reality TV star Jordan Finlayson, 28. Both remain in jail pending their next court appearance.
A police official said months have been spent covertly obtaining the drugs to subject them to testing.
In some cases these tests have returned surprising results; a recent batch of heroin allegedly returned a purity level of 81.9 per cent, a level considered remarkably high compared to most seizures made by police, the official said.
Most heroin is tested at around a fraction of that level. During Sydney’s heroin boom of the late 1980s the heroin seized was testing at around 40 per cent purity, though that was considered high, the official added.
“I don’t think they realise how pure it is,” they said. “I don’t think they understand the quality of what they’re selling. This is where people die. It only takes one street deal to kill someone.”
Souza was granted bail pending her next court appearance. Hudson did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.
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