More than 100 people have been arrested and charged during the latest ‘Dial-a-Dealer’ operation run across Sydney over the past three weekends.
64 people were charged with supplying a prohibited drug and 44 were charged with drug possession offences.
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Arrests were made in Sydney’s CBD and eastern suburbs. One arrest was made outside Parliament House and another in Bondi.
The drugs seized had an estimated total street value of $210,000. Seizures included 650 individual bags of cocaine, and MDMA, cannabis, THC edibles, ketamine and ice. $99,000 in cash was also seized.
During the operation, about 50,000 people were sent a text saying their number was linked to an alleged drug-running phone.
The message read, “The NSW Police Force: Strike Force Wessex has identified this number engaging with an organised crime drug supply ‘dial-a-dealer’ phone. If this continues, you may be subject to further investigation. Cease all contact now.”
Detective Superintendent Grant Taylor said police used their relationship with various Australian telecommunication companies to shut down drug-running phones.
“But phase one was just the beginning. Now we’ve disrupted the dealers’ direct line to their customers, we can turn our attention to those at the top – the criminal syndicate controlling these phones”.
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