FACELESS DEALERS OPERATING BEHIND STEEL DOOR FORTRESSES

The way into a Cabramatta heroin fortress is a hatch in the door. Or a
steel grille you can get your arm through.

All that buyers - including undercover police - get to see is a hand
or an arm as money is passed in and the heroin passed out. They never
see a face or any evidence of identification that will stand up in
court.

All they hear is a muffled voice, stating the price, asking how much
they want. The transaction takes no more than a minute, from knock to
departure.

With a heroin drought drying up supplies and forcing up prices, the
illegal trade has moved indoors in a big way.

Street deals are in decline. On the streets, dealers are vulnerable to
police undercover "sting" operations. They can be photographed doing a
deal, evidence sufficient for a conviction.

Instead, the trai lu lac, the lost ones, the street kids in their
grunge gear, sneakers and baseball caps, escort the buyers to the
fortress, usually near the Cabramatta CBD.

Police estimate about 40 such fortresses are operating in the
Cabramatta area, almost all of them upper-storey units with only one
approach, a narrow stairway.

Usually, the stairs and hallways are under video surveillance, making
it impossible to approach without being observed. "Cockatoos" are
often posted outside the blocks to warn of police.

The doors are protected by steel grilles. Steel plates are used to
reinforce locks. The doors swing on steel internal hinges. The word
fortress is apt. Under such conditions, a raid is difficult.

By the time police smash their way in, incriminating heroin has been
flushed down a toilet or sink, Assistant Commissioner Clive Small,
commander of the Greater Hume region, which includes Cabramatta, said
yesterday.

It represents a considerable loss of heroin and income for the
dealers. But profit margins are enormous - and there is no evidence
that will get a conviction.

Instead, police take a circuitous reprisal. The units are usually
rented, so they inform the real estate agent that the premises are
being used for heroin dealing. If the owner does not evict, the
property can be seized.

This is usually enough to make the dealers move to another unit. In
the past nine months, Cabramatta police have raided and forced dealers
to vacate 51 fortresses, 27 of them since February.