Police arrest four men accused of dealing drugs from Sydney taxis

POLICE have arrested four men in relation to an allegedly inventive way to deal cocaine — from the passenger set of a cab

Taxi drivers are having to deal with drug and Ice affected passengers during their shift as the drug epidemic continues to rise. These drivers say they haven't been attacked but know of drivers who have. These passengers are not known to be under the influence of substance. Drivers pick up fares along George Street, Sydney. Pics Bill Hearne

IT’S disruptive, highly innovative, convenient - and very illegal. But police are hoping they’ve foiled a new method of dealing drugs which made use of Sydney’s cavalcade of cabs.

Four taxi drivers have been arrested accused of running a cocaine delivery service across Sydney.

Police swooped on the men — all aged in their 30s — during dawns raids at five homes in Auburn, South Granville and Guildford.

The men are expected to be charged over the alleged criminal syndicate which police claim used taxis to deliver hundreds of one-gram cocaine deals per week to homes throughout Sydney.

Police will allege that clients ordered cocaine using specially-coded text messages from their homes, as well as pubs and restaurants.

Four people were arrested this morning accused of running a cocaine delivery service across Sydney.

In the elaborate ruse, the taxi driver would arrive with the cocaine and the client would hop into the cab where the deal would take place as the cab drives around. The driver would then drop the client back at the original location, reported the Daily Telegraph.

Detectives from Strike Force Illino were joined in the raids by the Tactical Operations Unit, Public Order and Riot Squad and local police.

Detective Acting Inspector David Gates, said that “from the base of the Blue Mountains at Penrith, the Eastern Suburbs, Northern Beaches to Sutherland”, the taxi racket has allegedly been servicing a “large client base” across the “entire Sydney basin”, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.