Western suburbs blitzed in major crackdown on violent crime

Thirty people have been arrested in a major crime blitz targeting street gangs and violent crime in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

More than 30 people have been arrested and charged as part of Operation Alliance in the past week.

Accused drug traffickers, carjackers and armed bandits have been scooped up in a major western suburbs blitz on street gangs and serious violent crime.

More than 30 people have been arrested and charged as part of operation Alliance in the past week as police moved on high-volume crime areas.

Forty-two people with gang affiliations were checked in the crackdown, in which officers flooded trouble spot.

The results included:

The arrest and charging of 31 people for offences including breach of bail, armed robbery, aggravated burglary, drug trafficking and theft matters;

Sixteen breaches among 50 bail compliance checks;

The seizure of three vehicles from 173 checks; and the issuing of 32 fines for breaches of the chief health officer directions.

In one of the biggest busts, investigators who pulled over a car on the Melton Highway allegedly seized methylamphetamine, $15,000 cash and mobile phones.

Two men, 29 and 28, were remanded after being charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of drugs and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

The 29-year-old, from St Albans, also faces counts of committing an indictable offence while on bail and possessing a prohibited weapon.

In another interception, a car stolen in a knifepoint carjacking was retrieved after police spotted it and tracked it to Taylors Hill.

Tyre-deflation strips were used to stop the car and two males were arrested as they tried to flee the scene.

On the same night, police spotted a car in Tarneit which was allegedly used in an earlier armed robbery at Werribee in which two young males in a park had their mobile phones and clothes stolen.

Tyre deflation strips were used on Heaths Rd and four people fled the car with three arrested nearby.

An 18-year-old Tarneit male was charged with armed robbery, assaulting police

and breaching a court order and was remanded in custody.

A Point Cook man, 21, was also remanded after being charged with resisting police and

breaching a court order while a third male was released pending further enquiries.

In another of the Alliance arrests, an 18-year-old male was detained in the CBD over an August fracas in St Albans in which a victim was left with serious injuries.

He has been charged with affray.

The operation — which ran between Wednesday and Saturday — involved uniformed and specialist police from the Brimbank and Melton divisional offender management team, the gang crime squad, the Brimbank, Melton & Wyndham CIUs, the Brimbank and Wyndham divisional response units, Caroline Springs and Werribee proactive policing units and the dog squad.

They patrolled high-volume crime areas to conduct compliance checks and arrest people on warrants.

Supt David Jones said such operations improved community safety and reduced serious and violent offences.

“Our work in this area does not stop. We will continue to monitor any persons of interest and regularly perform bail compliance checks, holding them to account,” Supt Jones said.

In an opinion piece for the Herald Sun on Tuesday Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent said police were committed to breaking the cycle of gang crime.

“Today’s street gangs are more mobile and better connected than their predecessors, moving across suburbs to commit serious offences such as robberies, carjackings and home invasions,” he said.

“At a time when it’s been challenging to police due to the issues associated with the pandemic we’re all living through, we have still prioritised targeting the most serious and violence offenders and bringing them before the courts.”