Southwest Sydney: Three women and seven men charged after police bust alleged drug ring and seize cocaine, steroids, cannabis, $38k cash, rifles and ammunition
Three women and seven men have been charged after police raids in Sydney busted an alleged drug ring and seized cocaine, steroids, cannabis, guns, ammunition and $38,000 in cash.
Police struck on Thursday with simultaneous raids on five addresses in the Macarthur region of Sydney’s south-west, arresting two women aged 28, a 23-year-old woman and seven men aged between 25 and 32.
One of the women, Elise Chalker, 28, and one of the men, Dean Grantham, 24, appear to be a romantic couple on social media.
The alleged perpetrators had been on the police radar since December when Strike Force Singer was established by Camden Police Area Command to investigate an alleged drugs gang operating in the South West.
All ten detainees were taken to Narellan police station after the raids.
They appeared in Parramatta Local Court on Friday, along with six of their co-accused, Liam McKell and Dylan Johnson, both 25, Jayden Hodkinson, 26, Daniel Andison, 31, and Joshua Johnson and Christopher Armstrong, both 32.
Police seized 500 grams of cocaine with an estimated street value of $150,000, as well as steroids, cannabis, $38,000 cash and weapons
Two other women, aged 23 and 28, were both charged with supplying a prohibited drug and participating in a criminal group. They faced Picton Local Court on Thursday where they were granted conditional bail on Thursday.
In the raids in Tahmoor, Menangle, Oran Park, Spring Farm and Harrington Park on Thursday, police reportedly located and seized 500 grams of cocaine with an estimated street value of $150,000, cash, guns and other prohibited weapons and ammunition.
A hydraulic press is also said to have been discovered, which can be used to compress drugs such as cocaine.
Two men, aged 24 and 25, were charged with knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group in which the others were accused of participating.
The 24-year-old was also accused, along with a 28-year-old woman, of running a drug house that exposed a child.
Three other men aged 25, 26 and 31, as well as two 32-year-olds, were charged with drugs and proceeds of crime.