Nightclub drug raids could snare bigger fish
By Renee Viellaris and Emma Chalmers
April 24, 2006
POLICE believe shock drug raids at Brisbane nightclubs could lead to the arrest of the state's major dealers.
Forty police and drug sniffer dogs executed Operation Walk the Line raids at Fortitude Valley clubs on Friday, arresting 13 people and seizing more than 100 ecstasy tablets and quantities of methylamphetamines, cannabis and cash.
Brisbane Central District Officer Superintendent Tonya Carew said yesterday the raids could prove invaluable in the war against drugs.
"It can often lead to the arrest of the bigger fish," Supt Carew said.
"You've got to start (building up intelligence) somewhere."
She said someone arrested with one tablet could provide information about the person they bought it from.
It could provide the intelligence needed to build profiles on the major players peddling illegal drugs.
She said in the past calendar year, the number of drug offences in Brisbane city and Fortitude Valley had increased by 11 per cent.
Civil Liberties Queensland vice-president Terry O'Gorman said it was "nonsense" that police could catch bigger dealers by targeting recreational users.
"The last thing that a person is prepared to do is to give up their supplier because they risk physical punishment because of it," Mr O'Gorman said.
He said the rhetoric might have worked decades ago, when the war on drugs began, but it did not wash now.
"Even a teenager would fall about laughing (on hearing it could lead to bigger dealers)," Mr O'Gorman said.
He accused the Queensland Government of "policing just for show".
"Whether we like it or not, a significant number of people use drugs for recreational use," he said.
Supt Carew said people would be targeted if they took drugs to nightclubs.
She said the dogs also picked up people who admitted they had taken drugs before they left home.
She said drug sniffer dogs could be used elsewhere as police see fit but it would not be the only method to catch drug users.
She said those charged in the recent operation were issued notices to appear and would front court in the coming weeks.
"(The) operation compliments the many other operations that we have run in the Fortitude Valley area targeting drugs and we will continue to utilise drug detection dogs in the future," she said.
Queensland premier Peter Beattie was unapologetic yesterday about the use of drug dogs in nightclubs.
"I just say to anybody who thinks we should run a benevolent society for drug dealers, they're wrong, we're not," Mr Beattie said.
"This is actually about protecting young people to make sure that when they go to a nightclub they're safe. We're going to do everything we can to keep drugs out of nightclubs and I make no apology for that."
Mr Beattie said many people in the state's mental institutions were there because of drug abuse.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
will be more mindfull in future.
