“Police!” “Open up!”
These were the shouts that broke the peace of early morning across Bunbury on Tuesday as South West officers forced their way into 12 homes where suspected drug dealers live.
Teams of police officers from across the region left Bunbury Police Station pre-dawn having each been assigned a residence of interest. The Mail was granted privileged access to accompany a team to an address on Westwood Street, Withers, just 100 metres from a primary school.
While still dark, an officer used a sledgehammer to gain access to the home with the team quickly fanning out inside to conduct a thorough search.
While inside, police seized 0.5 grams of methamphetamine, a quantity of cannabis leaf and cannabis seeds and some firearm ammunition.
The 50-year-old man who lives at the address was arrested and charged with possession of a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply, possession of a prohibited drug and possession of unlicensed ammunition.
The man was on bail for a charge of possession of a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply at the time of his latest arrest.
South West Police Inspector Peter Morrissey said the third instalment of Operation Collective on Tuesday morning saw 65 police officers conduct 12 searches.
“Today we charged 14 people with 29 offences including possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell or supply, possession of cannabis with intent to sell or supply and cultivation of cannabis,” he said.
“Over the past month the South West District has run Operation Collective 3 across the whole of the region and as a result of that a total of 54 people have been charged with a total of 139 offences.”
Inspector Morrissey said in excess of 12 kilograms of cannabis has been seized along with 50 grams of methamphetamine, MDMA, LSD, magic mushrooms, stolen property, stolen vehicles, weapons, firearms, ammunition and cash.
“This is a rolling operation that will continue across the South West in the coming months,” he said.
The searches are in direct response to the Dob in a Dealer campaign that was launched in the South West five weeks ago.
Inspector Morrissey said the information provided by the public through that Crime Stoppers campaign has proved invaluable. “We continue to invite the public to provide us with information about suspicious activities,” he said.
“That house next door to you where the cars are coming at all hours of the day and night – we want to know about that.”
Inspector Morrissey said he wants to send a clear message to the people in the South West.
“If you are dealing in drugs and you’re dealing in stolen property then we are coming to get you,” he said.
“We’ve said it before and we will say it again – we know who you are.
“This community is being destroyed by people who are using drugs and selling drugs and those people who are stealing property to facilitate their drug habit.”
Inspector Morrissey said the use of methamphetamine has been integral to an increase in cases of family violence across the region.
“We want to stamp out family violence and violence in the home by attacking the main causes of that which include the use of methamphetamines and other drugs,” he said.
“We will continue to target Bunbury as a place of high proliferation of methamphetamines.”
Operation Collective 1 was conducted in March while Collective 2 was carried out in April.
Officers were drawn from a number of South West towns to help with the operation including Yarloop, Harvey, Pemberton, Manjimup, Boyup Brook, Bridgetown, Margaret River, Busselton and Nannup along with officers from Bunbury, South West Detectives and the Intelligence and Inquiry teams.
