Drug raids railroaded over commuter chaos fears
By Luke McIlveen
March 21, 2007 12:00am
POLICE were forced to cancel a major drug operation on Sydney trains and buses last week because the State Government feared a repeat of the rail debacle that left 40,000 commuters stranded.
The operation was planned for last Thursday - the day after a breakdown between Wynyard and the Harbour Bridge left thousands of commuters stranded - but the Government feared more bad publicity a week from the election.
Angry senior police had spent a month planning the blitz but were forced to abandon the raids after RailCorp and the State Rail Authority withdrew from the operation.
"SRA and RailCorp withdrew on Thursday morning. As a result North Sydney Commuter Crime Unit cancelled their part in the operation," a police spokesman said last night.
About 70 police with sniffer dogs were to sweep through trains and buses last Thursday afternoon. The raids were part of a plan to combat drug trafficking along Sydney's transport corridors.
Police believe many drug deals occur on public transport and have had success in previous busts.
Sources said some raids were carried out on trains at Hornsby last week - but police hoped to target every station between North Sydney and Chatswood.
Opposition police spokesman Mike Gallacher said the decision raised serious questions about the Iemma Government's determination to avoid bad publicity at all costs ahead of the election.
"They have canned a police operation simply because they did not want any further delays on the train system," he said.
"The disaster on Wednesday meant Morris Iemma wasn't going to allow police to do their jobs. The police had done a lot of work on this operation and it's been abandoned because the Government didn't want to run the risk of a bad headline."
More than 4000 commuters were trapped in trains and another 40,000 stranded last Wednesday after a Tangara became welded to overhead wires.
Drivers said the debacle could easily have been avoided if carbon blocks had been changed, a process as basic as changing brake pads in a car.
Police Minister John Watkins denied his department had cancelled the operation.
"The Iemma Government would never interfere in an operation being conducted by NSW Police," a spokesman said.
