OFF THE WIRE
BY: Mark Dunn
heraldsun.com.au
A FORMER Macquarie Bank worker moonlighting as a prostitute and a Bandidos bikie were among people arrested in a drug bust, court documents reveal.
Property later confiscated as alleged proceeds of crime included two Harley-Davidson motorbikes, $55,000 cash, a Ford F250, a Lexus, three poker machines, five plasma TVs, vodka and a Police Protective Services officer's badge.
The identity of a man at the centre of the probe has been suppressed by the courts but documents from Victoria Police's Operation Dinked and Operation Nettle outline an alleged network of cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis trafficking uncovered in late 2008.
He is fighting to prevent the Crown selling the assets.
Others arrested during the operations included an impresario, who brought in famous foreign singers to perform at Vodafone Arena, and a former Macquarie employee, of Brighton, who also worked part-time as a prostitute, documents before the County Court state.
Operation Dinked investigated large-scale trafficking of ecstasy, cocaine, speed and cannabis between February and August 2008, with undercover operatives buying drugs with a street value of $274,000 - much of which was alleged to have been organised from a suburban Melbourne meat company.
Phone intercepts and police intelligence identified code words for distribution, which included buyers asking for spicy rissoles and premium steaks, the court documents allege.
Firearms, ammunition, a hydroponics set-up and cannabis plants were allegedly found at one man's home. A raid on a regional property seized the disputed assets.
Operation Nettle followed where Dinked left off. Two undercover police met an alleged trafficker at North Melbourne football ground and bought an ounce of cocaine for $12,000, the documents state.
County Court Judge David Parsons in July last year ruled that a restraining order on assets be stayed until the criminal prosecution of one defendant is completed.
