Newtown, King St: Alleged dial-a-dealer busted in inner west alcohol, drug operation

An alleged dial-a-dealer busted with 23 bags of cocaine and $8000 in cash was one of a string of arrests during a two-night police blitz targeting the thriving night-life of Sydney’s inner west.

An alleged dial-a-dealer busted with 23 bags of cocaine and $8000 cash was one of a string of arrests during a two-night police blitz targeting the thriving night-life of Sydney’s inner west.

Following a spike in booze-fuelled crime since the end of lockdown, police officers and drug detection dogs patrolled the Newtown entertainment precinct, seizing knives, cannabis and a substance suspected to be party drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) across Friday and Saturday night.

The Inner West PAC crime manager Detective Inspector Ben Kennis said the operation – which took place at Newtown, Marrickville, Enmore, Erskineville and Sydenham – aimed to reduce crime and keep late-night revellers safe.

“The ultimate goal for the inner west police is to keep our patrons safe across the whole patrol,” he said.

“We want them to go out and enjoy a drink, and feel safe in doing so. Which is why we have police out in numbers, highly visible, but also conducting covert operations targeting dial-a-dealer style operations.

“It (the operation) was a great success that led to reduced drug-offending in our command, and officers will be out in force to protect the community who are by and large doing the right thing.”

The biggest snare came on Saturday night when officers busted an alleged dial-a-dealer in Enmore, finding 23 bags of cocaine allegedly hidden in the front console of a car in a makeshift compartment. Alongside the drug haul, police discovered $8000 in cash.

The 30-year-old man was arrested, charged with drug supply and dealing with the property proceeds of crime. He will appear at Downing Centre Local Court later this month.

Insp. Ben Kennis said violent incidents had become more frequent in Inner West nightspots in recent months.

“We have noticed an increase in alcohol-related assaults since lockdown ended, so we’re targeting licensed premises for intoxicated people and drug-related issues, and we’ve seen the reduction in offending when we run operations like this.”

“We use our intelligence gathering to identify the right premises to target, and we’ll do that in a number of overt and covert ways.

“In partnership with the outstanding drug-detection dog unit, we target drug offending for people coming into our patrol, in the hope that targeting that offender will reduce assaults and other violent crime in licensed premises.”

Police also seized knives and cannabis from youths, who were dealt under the Young Offenders Act.