How Herald Sun pictures helped police bust brazen heroin houses on government estate
A public housing block drug den, that made a booming heroin and meth trade around the corner of Richmond’s controversial injecting room, has been smashed by police. EXCLUSIVE PICS: Look at what residents have had to put up with.
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A brazen drug ring operating out of a public housing flat has been smashed after a booming heroin and meth trade was exposed.
The drug den was uncovered by the Herald Sun last month as police were in the midst of a secret probe into the alleged trafficking network.
Photos captured by the Herald Sun of the busy daylight trade became key intelligence in the undercover sting, which culminated in dramatic raids and arrests in Richmond on Thursday morning.
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As many as half a dozen customers an hour had been seen visiting the second-storey taxpayer-funded unit, trading cash for drugs and even needles through a small hole cut-out of the security door.
The Herald Sun was there to capture Thursday’s raids which are part of an ongoing investigation into drug trafficking in inner Melbourne.
Melbourne Divisional Response Unit detectives and the dog squad swooped on two units, seizing drugs, a taser and two sling shots and arresting four people.
The Church St housing block is a three minute walk from the state’s first safe injecting room and was the scene of a fatal stabbing in March last year.
Three women and a man were led away in handcuffs, with one of the accused women sobbing as dozens of police swarmed the housing block.
Police on Thursday night charged a 40-year-old Richmond woman with a slew of drug offences including trafficking heroin and methyl amphetamine, as well as possessing a prohibited weapon and other drugs including cannabis and GHB. She was remanded in custody.
A 50-year-old woman, also from Richmond, was charged with possessing a prohibited weapon and cannabis and was granted bail.
A 25-year-old Colac man and a 40-year-old woman from Kew were interviewed and then released as the police investigation continued.
It comes as residents have complained of a spike in drug-related crime and aggressive behaviour in the area, with some even taking the drastic step of moving house.
Local businesses said the drug house had been “common knowledge” among residents and police had been made aware of the suspicious unit.
Last month police vowed to crackdown on street dealing in Richmond during a two-week drug blitz dubbed Operation Apollo, where seven suspected drug traffickers were arrested.
Five of those people have since been charged.
The blatant daylight dealing was undeterred by the increased police presence, which included mounted police and undercover officers.
It is understood detectives had also been surveilling the Church St drug den for months.
But just one day after the much-publicised drug blitz ended, people were spotted at the flat buying drugs again.
One local worker, who did not want to identified, said at times queues of people were waiting to score.
The worker said he had called the local police station on several occasions over the past year about the issue of dealing and drug use which they said had brought crime and violence onto his doorstep.
Meanwhile, some local residents say the situation is the worst it has ever been, with the opening of the injecting room drawing dealers from Victoria St closer to residential houses and Richmond West Primary School.
Speaking prior to Thursday’s raids, many locals referred to it as the “honey pot effect”.
“There’s tonnes of dealers in the area in plain sight,” a Lennox St resident said.
“They’re realising that police aren’t arresting them so they’re becoming more brazen.”
But other residents say they are thankful the injecting room has reduced the number of overdoses in their streets.
DOORHOLE DEALING GIVEN A SMACK
Between a child’s rocking horse and a sign spelling out “love” was a door no different to any other in the small block of units.
The window curtains were drawn and there was no movement inside.
But through a little hole in the security door — smaller than the size of your fist — the Richmond drug trade was booming.
One by one throughout the day, men and women were seen approaching the housing commission block before disappearing up a stairwell and emerging again on the second storey.
Most had made the trip before, sometimes even several times a day.
Some wore T-shirts and baseball caps — one man was shirtless.
A few carried duffel bags or backpacks, while a young chino-wearing hipster carried a skateboard.
One day, a middle-aged woman appeared sporting a bright purple tennis skirt.
They were all there for the same reason.
Cash, mostly $10 and $20 notes but occasionally a $50, was pushed through the cut-out hole in the screen door.
And then they waited.
Within moments, perfectly manicured fingers appeared pinching a tiny plastic bag filled with their order.
Occasionally a fresh packet of needles followed.
The process could be over in less than a minute.
But sometimes fumbling fingers and lost wallets slowed the trade.
Now and then the front door would open and someone would be let in — but not before being told to wipe their feet on the doormat.
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The criminals pushing the deadly drugs from the behind the door remained faceless.
But on Thursday police burst through the door and the men and women allegedly heaping misery on the Richmond community were revealed.
Drug detectives and the dog squad descended on the inner-city apartment block with four people arrested in the undercover sting.
A large shirtless man with tattoos inked across his face and body was the first to be led out.
He appeared unfazed as he was bundled into the back of a divvy van.
Two floors above him, a woman with pigtails and a crucifix necklace sat handcuffed and sobbing.
Two more women would be sprung in the midmorning raids.
Police were forced to step around dozens of used syringes littered across the front yard of the housing commission flats, just a few minutes’ walk from the new medically supervised injecting room.
During the Herald Sun’s surveillance, several people were seen shooting up in the backyard of the housing block, barely obscured by an old wooden fence.
Uniformed police spent several hours combing through the contents of the two small flats as a few curious neighbours watched.
Despite their presence, a handful of expectant buyers turned up to the flats before quickly moving on.
Some made it all the way to the front before realising the game was up.
Church St remained busy as dozens of people walked hurriedly past the unfolding police operation. One woman stopped just long enough to offer her opinion to officers: “About bloody time”.