Teenagers among 18 arrested during one-day Sydney transport blitz

Police have swarmed crime hot spots across Sydney’s transport network with 18 people arrested for a range of offences, including two teenage boys.

Two Sydney teenagers are among 18 people arrested during a one-day police blitz of the city’s public transport network, as crime rates heat up with the weather.

Officers swarmed known crime hot spots across the public transport system in northwest and southwest Sydney, including trains, buses and transport hubs, as part of Operation Colossus on Thursday.

Three knives were seized during the operation, with 80 people searched and 115 infringement notices issued for transport offences.

Another 59 people were given move on orders by police.

Police also arrested and charged 18 people for a range of offences, including robbery in company, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possessing a prohibited drug, goods in custody, custody of a knife, outstanding warrants and transport offences.

Among those arrested was a 15-year-old boy who was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm in Rooty Hill.

Another teenager, a 16-year-old boy, was charged with robbery in company at Marrickville, while a man, 42, was charged with custody of a knife, intimidating police and transport offences at Cabramatta.

The intimidating police charge was in relation to alleged verbal threats directed towards officers.

Police say as the weather warms up, crime rates on public transport increase. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Chief Inspector Colin Moore said more single-day high visibility blitz operations would be run across the public transport system in the lead-up to the traditional busier end of the year.

“Experience has shown that as we approach the warmer months and restrictions on movement ease, people use the transport system as a means to commit opportunistic crime,” he said.

“Everyone using the public transport system has a right to feel safe and not be threatened by anti-social and criminal behaviour.

“Operation Colossus has proven to be a successful strategy in detecting and deterring those behaviours and supports the good proactive work done by our police conduct on a day-to-day basis.”

Inspector Moore warned those people who chose to flout the law would be dealt with.

A total of 77 officers from Police Transport Command, as well as drug detection dogs, bicycle police and the Mounted Unit were involved in the one-day operation.

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