Melbourne suburbs where police are disrupting drug deals

Police are targeting street-level drug pushers in Melbourne’s inner suburbs in a bid to clean up crime hotspots ahead of Christmas.

Police out on patrol in North Richmond. Picture: Alex Coppel

Police have street-level drug dealers in their sights as they swarm inner-city crime hotspots this week.

The force is cracking down on criminal offending on the streets of Richmond, Abbotsford and Collingwood in a bid to tidy up Melbourne’s suburbs leading up to Christmas.

Operation Cargo will send dozens of plain clothed and uniformed officers to work alongside specialised units, including the dog squad, mounted brigade and highway patrol in an effort to catch brazen drug traffickers in the act.

On Tuesday police saturated Victoria and Elizabeth Streets in North Richmond, where at least one man was caught for allegedly dealing heroin in broad daylight.

Victoria Police’s Operation Cargo is being run in the inner suburbs. Picture: Alex Coppel

Officers target drug crime. Picture: Alex Coppel

Police out in force in North Richmond. Picture: Alex Coppel

The mounted brigade takes part in the operation. Picture: Alex Coppel

Police focus on inner-city crime hotspots. Picture: Alex Coppel

Richmond, Abbotsford and Collingwood are in the sights of police. Picture: Alex Coppel

The Herald Sun witnessed police intercept a black BMW with stolen number plates near Hoddle Street which was subsequently searched for drugs.

Highly trained sniffer dogs allegedly found traffickable amounts of ice and marijuana.

Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Grant James said police were committed to address drug trafficking in Melbourne’s inner city suburbs.

“Drugs have the capacity to cause harm every time they are consumed — this is why we will continue to relentlessly investigate and pursue the traffickers and dealers profiting from this trade,” Sgt James said.

“The Yarra area will continue to be regularly patrolled by uniform police, detectives and specialist resources to provide reassurance, address any concerns, gather intelligence and deter crime.”

Sgt James said highway patrol units use cutting-edge automatic number plate recognition technology to pick up other offenders including those with unregistered or stolen cars, owners on outstanding warrants or those with unpaid fines.

“The technology can read hundreds of number plates per hour, which enables us to filter through a lot more motorists,” he said.

Police question a man during the operation. Picture: Alex Coppel

The dog squad makes its presence felt. Picture: Alex Coppel

Highly trained sniffer dogs join the patrols. Picture: Alex Coppel

There has been a big push to address drug trafficking in the inner suburbs. Picture: Alex Coppel

Led by the Melbourne Divisional Response Unit, the highly visible operation has led to more than 85 arrests this year, as well as at least 100 penalty notices dished out for criminal and traffic offences.

On September 2 police executed a search warrant in Abbotsford as part of Operation Cargo and seized 41g of heroin and $58,000.

A female aged in her 30s was charged with drug trafficking and remanded to appear at court at a later date.

On October 20 a police dog allegedly detected drugs on a man aged in his 20s who was later charged with drug trafficking.

Police seized 30g of methylamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and approximately $1000 cash.

North Richmond locals have pleaded for a bolstered police presence in the area surrounding Melbourne’s controversial safe injecting room, with many saying the facility has resulted in a ‘honey pot’ effect on nearby streets.

Operation Cargo will run until Thursday.