About 50,000 people have been hit with a text warning them they have been linked to alleged drug runners after NSW Police shut down 26 suspected “dial-a-dealer” phones in Sydney.
Strike Force Wessex was established in April last year to investigate alleged criminal groups involved in drug supply across the NSW capital.
Initially, investigators focused on identifying mobile phone retailers allegedly supplying fraudulent SIM cards.
Two stores in Bankstown and Bass Hill in the city’s south-west were raided by police in December and January, respectively.
Officers allegedly found false SIM cards and cash totalling more than $110,000 at both locations.
One person was charged in each search.
Detectives then worked to identify and recover some of the drug-run phones from a number of alleged dealers.
A series of search warrants were executed in Guildford, Cartwright, Granville, and Northmead during February, with police seizing items such as phones, gel blasters, and almost $100,000 in cash.
Multiple people have been charged.
Eight phones which were physically seized and a total of 26 phone numbers were identified as being used by alleged criminal syndicate members to run drugs, with a combined potential customer database of 50,000 people.
Police will allege some of the phone numbers – who were known to their contacts only by names such as “Dior”, “Tommy” and “Ricky” – have been in operation for up to 10 years.
As of today, police announced this morning, all 26 of those phone numbers have been shut down.
Before the phone numbers were disabled, about 50,000 identified contacts of the phone numbers were sent a text message to alert them to the fact their number was linked to an alleged drug-running phone.
The text message read, “The NSW Police Force: Strike Force Wessex has identified this number engaging with an organised crime drug supply ‘dial-a-dealer’ phone. If this continues you may be subject to further investigation. Cease all contact now.”
Detective Superintendent Grant Taylor said this was one of the first times police have used this technology to dismantle criminal syndicates and their activities.
“Exploiting new technological capabilities, and using our relationship with various Australian telecommunication companies, we’ve been able to shut down these phones that were running up to millions of dollars’ worth of drugs per week – anything from cannabis to cocaine to ice,” Taylor said.
He said the next focus for police would be those in the alleged syndicate who had controlled the phones.
