As part of a sting operation that culminated in the indictment of 13 people, dramatic film has surfaced showing police swoops on armed meth sellers.
During the three-day sweep over Perth’s suburbs, the footage shows law enforcement officers wearing high-visibility clothing yanking individuals from vehicles and tackling them to the ground.
Operation Bowerbird targeted street-level ice traffickers who reportedly sold their products over encrypted Telegram conversations.
The West Australian reported that officers posed as potential consumers for narcotics transactions.
Vision of the arrests showed police in hi-visibility vests and shirts swarming over a grey hatchback as the driver lay on the ground, detained by officers, before another man was removed from the vehicle by police.
Officers were reportedly seen racing to a black car at a BP gas station and hauling a guy wearing a bright red t-shirt onto the asphalt.
A little bag containing a white substance was reportedly discovered in the hatchback, while other footage showed authorities detaining a guy with long hair.
Police charged 13 people with 28 offences, including offering to sell or provide a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of a banned firearm.
Officer-in-charge The Drug and Firearm squad’s Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Emmett told the West Australian that drug traffickers cannot hide behind the cloak of anonymity.
‘They need to watch out because we are always around, we are always targeting people and they could end up before the courts,’ he said.
‘We have a number of investigative techniques that we apply and we are able to deal with people who are conducting illicit activity on the internet through different platforms.
‘We can engage different people in an open-market scenario on a platform and they don’t ever know if they are speaking to a police officer or not.’
He said that certain items sold on the street had additional chemicals, such as sugar, defrauding purchasers of hundreds of dollars.
Det Sr. Sgt. Emmett stated that it was possible for drug addicts to consume more harmful drugs.
In addition, he said that several of the apprehended drug traffickers were armed and warned their clients of the hazards of associating with armed criminals.
It follows a revelation by The Sunday Times earlier this year that ice was being sold in a sophisticated manner using the Telegram app, coordinated by a group known as ‘the Circuit’.
»Dramatic footage shows police arresting 13 armed meth dealers in a sting operation«