Melbourne drugs: The biggest drug raids in the east
From record-breaking ice hauls and secret cannabis stashes to a grandfather minding “herbs”, Melbourne’s east has seen plenty of lucrative drug raids. Were any of them in your neighbourhood?
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From record-breaking ice hauls to secret cannabis stashes, Melbourne’s east has been the scene of plenty of lucrative drug raids.
Police have busted into homes and factories in suburban neighbourhoods and uncovered huge hauls of cannabis and other drugs.
Those minding or responsible for the stashes had copped heavy sentences and jail time, and some have even been deported.
Here’s some of the biggest finds covered by Leader and the Herald Sun in Melbourne’s east in recent years.
THE $900 MILLION ICE HAUL
A then-record-breaking seizure of ice took place in February 2017 in a joint Victoria Police and Australian Federal Police investigation.
A whopping 903kg of crystal meth, equivalent to nine million individual hits, was found hidden between 70 boxes of wooden floorboards at a Norcal Rd factory in Nunawading.
The bust followed raids in Doncaster, Blackburn North, Blackburn South and Box Hill, and authorities estimated the drugs had a street value of $900 million.
A nearby worker told the Herald Sun they saw three to four Asian men often going in and out of the factory.
“They kept to themselves mostly. The door was closed except when they were receiving containers,” they said.
A 53-year-old Blackburn man and 36-year-old Doncaster man were later charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine.
THE GRANDFATHER MINDING ‘HERBS’ IN BORONIA
Vietnamese grandfather Hein Ngo was caught red-handed with a bag of marijuana in November 2018 — and later told the court he thought he was only holding herbs.
The 61-year-old, who had arrived in Australia a few weeks earlier, was arrested after officers found him at a house in Tulip Cres, Boronia.
They later searched the house and found 75 cannabis plants weighing more than 83kg.
When the case was later heard in the County Court, judge Michael Tierney was startled by Ngo’s claims.
“You described being asked by a man in Springvale to attend the address … and collect a bag of herbs,” he said.
“You said you didn’t know it was cannabis … plainly it was nonsense.”
Ngo was sentenced to 21 months’ jail in November last year, with a non-parole period of 11 months, and will be deported to Vietnam at the end of his sentence.
THE $3.25 MILLION DOUBLE HOUSE SMASH
Leader was on the scene for two connected raids within 72 hours in early May as detectives put a dent in the operations of an alleged drug gang.
Croydon detectives raided a home at an abandoned factory near an indoor sports centre in Burton Ct in Bayswater on May 5.
Officers found 50kg of cannabis — including 170 plants and 10kg of dried cannabis — which had a street value of $1.25 million.
A 37-year-old St Albans man at the house at the time was arrested.
Two days later, detectives also raided a small home in Ringwood’s Burwood Ave near EastLink and uncovered an even bigger haul.
They found more than 120 mature cannabis plants packed into six rooms. A 35-year-old St Albans man at the house was arrested.
Sgt Ell McGibbony estimated 80kg of the drug was found with a street value of $2 million.
The two raids were in relation to a drug ring which detectives believed was operating in Melbourne’s west.
CAUGHT IN THE LAUNDRY
When police raided a crop house in Ringwood in May 2018, they found a Vietnamese man sitting in the laundry and looking after a huge stash with a sophisticated set up.
Cuong Nguyen, who had a previous conviction for cultivating drugs, had been growing cannabis plants inside the home for a $10,000 reward promised to him by a man he met at a St Albans market.
Officers busted him a month into his mission and seized 84 plants weighing more than 68kg.
Nguyen was jailed for three years by Judge Gabrielle Cannon in the County Court in November 2018, with a non-parole period of two years.
Judge Cannon told Nguyen it was likely he would be deported at the end of sentence.
FERNTREE GULLY UNITS
An Albanian-born man will be deported this year after he was busted growing cannabis in two nearby units in a Ferntree Gully street.
Klevis Gjyla, 24, was sentenced to 16 months’ prison after he pleaded guilty to cultivating the drug and possessing a false document at the County Court on February 7, 2019.
Police were made aware of an electrical bypass set up in two units in Pinnacle Ave in July 2018, with accounts in false names.
They arrested Gjyla a month later and seized 54 cannabis plants with a total weight of 112kg and hydroponic growing equipment across the two units.
Gjyla had been living illegally in Australia since 2017 when his student visa ran out, and had been offered free accommodation to mind the plants.
He spent part of his childhood in the US and Judge Frances Hogan ordered he be deported there at the end of his sentence.
PARTY DRUGS IN KALORAMA
The occupants of a home in Melbourne’s hills came out swinging when police conducted an early morning raid in September last year.
A Croydon detective was allegedly assaulted when they found $100,000 of drugs including ecstasy, cannabis and cocaine at a home in Bridge Rd, Kalorama.
A 24-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman from the address were arrested and each charged with trafficking ecstasy and possessing other drugs of dependence.
The woman was also charged with assaulting an emergency services officer and trafficking cannabis.
BIG FIND IN BELGRAVE
Staying in the hills, a massive 300kg of cannabis was found at a drug den in Belgrave on October 3, 2017.
The house was raided by police who found a hydroponic set up connected to an electrical bypass, and seized 387 cannabis plants.
The house was later sold and its owner, Thanh Huy Nguyen, tried to gain proceeds from its sale, with the matter heading to court.
Nguyen claimed to have no knowledge of the crops and said he bought the house to accommodate Vietnamese relatives coming to visit him in Australia.
He said he began renting it out when the relatives decided not to make the trip.
But Judge Philip Misso disagreed, saying he was “wilfully blind” to the cultivation of cannabis at the property when he handed down his verdict in 2019.
Judge Misso ordered cash from the sale of the property be forfeited.