$8M drug bust and a raid on Pur Pur Avenue

Shellharbour was the location of a number of major drug busts in the last week.

On Tuesday, the police raided a house in Purr Purr Avenue, Lake Illawarra (pictured) and confiscated several large drums containing loose cannabis and a number of cannabis plants growing on an external verandah.

Sergeant John Klepczarek of the Lake Illawarra Local Area Command said the officers went to the residence on an unrelated matter, but after obtaining a search warrant, found the cannabis.

“A 24-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman were charged with supply of cannabis and cultivating cannabis,” Sgt Klepczarek said. “They will appear in Wollongong Local Court on May 8.”

Last week, a 57-year-old Dapto man, David Wren, was one of four men charged in relation to the seizure of 28kg of heroin in police raids that dismantled an alleged international drug syndicate. Wren was charged with importing and attempting to possess a commercial quantity of heroin.

The drugs, destined for NSW with a street value of $8.4 million, were seized in a joint operation, which included members of the NSW Police Force, NSW Crime Commission, the Australian Federal Police and Customs.

Police allege the syndicate concealed 69 packages of heroin inside three chests of drawers.

Acting on intelligence from the NSW Police Force’s special crime unit, Sydney customs officers detected the concealment in February. Taskforce officers monitored the delivery to Adelaide and to an address in Shellharbour.

Last week, search warrants were executed at premises in Albion Park Rail and Barrack Heights.

In a seperate incident, a 32-year-old Koonawarra man was charged with manufacturing a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug following the discovery of a clandestine laboratory at a house in Linton Circuit, Kanahooka.