ASSET GRAB - POLICE TEST TOUGH NEW LAWS

WA POLICE have applied to seize assets worth more than $140,000 from an
alleged drug dealer in the first test of the State's new criminal property
confiscation laws.

Lana Josephine Dyson, 34, of Karrinyup, has 24 days to fight the bid.
Police obtained an order to freeze the property after charging Ms Dyson
last week with intent to sell or supply drugs including ecstasy, heroin and
cocaine.

Ms Dyson's lawyer, Judy Seif, said the charges would be defended vigorously.

Organised crime Det-Supt Fred Gere said yesterday the order was the first
under the new non-conviction based laws and followed collaboration with the
Director of Public Prosecutions.

The laws, which came into effect this month, are aimed at stripping assets
from the Mr Bigs of crime. In the case of drug-traffickers, police
previously could only seize assets they proved were crime-related. The new
laws allow all assets to be seized - crime-related or not - if a person is,
or may be declared, a drug-trafficker.

Organised crime detectives raided Ms Dyson's home on January 3 and also
swooped on her sports car, parked at an associate's house. They allegedly
discovered a smorgasbord of illicit drugs, including 470 ecstasy tablets
with a street value of up to $23,500, and 12g of heroin, potentially worth
up to $12,000.

Ms Dyson is understood to work in public relations. Supt Gere said $11,305
in cash and a Hyundai Coupe sports car worth about $12,000 had been frozen
on the grounds they were allegedly crime-derived and used for crime. The
seizure bid also applied to an AMP investment policy valued at $14,237,
$100,000 from a deceased estate and $6000 in shares on the expectation that
Ms Dyson would be declared a drug trafficker.

Ms Seif said because the latter category allowed no grounds for objection,
the assets - which included Ms Dyson's inheritance from her grandmother and
the AMP policy her late mother had started 15 years ago - would almost
certainly be lost."She can't get social security . . . they've restrained
all her bank accounts - how is she going to fund her legal case?" she said.
It was a system that would make people poor and possibly force them to
commit crime. Ms Seif said in doing away with the presumption of innocence,
the laws gave police frightening powers and would cultivate corruption. But
Supt Gere said they would strike at the heart of serious drug dealers.

Criminal Lawyers' Association spokesman John Prior said one of the flaws of
the laws was that they reversed the onus of proof, forcing defendants to
prove their innocence.

Police said last week they hoped to use the new laws to cast the net wider
to seize property used in crimes such as assault or theft. For example,
bikies could lose their Harley-Davidson motorcycles if they broke the law
while riding them.