WE'RE WINNING DEALER WAR: POLICE

THE WA Police Service is winning the war against the State's drug
dealers, according to the head of the organised crime unit.

Det-Supt Fred Gere said while operations Whitehead and Uncut ensured
that 5.6kg of heroin did not get on to Perth's streets, police had
targeted successfully marijuana and amphetamine distribution rings.

The recent operations on heroin rings began in July and were
continuing.

"The seized heroin had a street value of about $5 million," he said.
"I think these seizures have certainly made an impact on the
distribution of heroin by these two particular syndicates.

"They were part of a very well-established drug syndicate here and in
the eastern States.

"We saw this as a couple of syndicates that had been operating in
Perth for some time that had probably gone untouched and, therefore,
we decided to look at them."

The results had shocked police, he said.

"There is no doubt these syndicates absolutely surprised us when we
looked at these seizures," Supt Gere said.

The seized heroin was in block form, indicating the drugs had been
bought close to the original source, he said.WA police had busted 17
of the 150 clandestine amphetamine laboratories discovered in
Australia last financial year.

Of the five ecstasy laboratories, one was in WA.

Supt Gere said the amphetamine trade was hard to monitor.

"There is no doubt that the trend in regard to amphetamine is a bit of
a roller-coaster ride," he said.

Speed was more popular than heroin in previous years but the trend had
reversed, he said. Amphetamine use also was on the rise again.