INFORMER ALLEGES BETRAYAL BY POLICE

The witness who exposed Australia's biggest amphetamines syndicate flew out
of Melbourne last night claiming he has been betrayed by the authorities
who had promised to protect him.

The man, given the police code name "E2/92", spent more than three years
gathering evidence for the drug squad and a further four years in witness
protection. He now says the police department has reneged on a deal to set
him up financially and to resettle him in a new country.

"They have taken my country, my future and my life," he said before he flew
from Australia.

E2/92 infiltrated the amphetamines syndicate run by "The King" - John
William Samuel Higgs - the man who dominated the Australian speed market
from the mid-1980s until his arrest in 1996.

The witness has lived with threats to his life since 1996 when syndicate
members learned he was an informer. E2/92, his wife "Julie" and two
children were then sent overseas for their protection.

The witness says he has been repeatedly betrayed by legal and police
officials. He says he was promised $500,000 and residency in another country.

He left Melbourne last night after being paid $350,000. He was paid $50,000
last year. He says he has debts of $143,000 and no resident status in
another country. "That will keep us going about two years. Then what? I'm
50 years old; who's going to employ me? We are not actually residents of
any country. Where are we supposed to go?"

It is believed detectives recommended the witness be paid the full $500,000
but one senior officer rejected the plan. The witness says he was given
repeated assurances by police between 1993 and 1996 that he would not have
to testify in court but later he was told he would have to give evidence.

His lawyer, Mr Paul Duggan, said: "The negotiations have been protracted to
the point of being cruel. He has been left depleted and extremely bitter."

In order to get his final payment the witness was forced to sign an
agreement on Tuesday that he would not talk to the media or sue any
government authority. But he spoke to The Age earlier on the basis the
story would not be published until he was safely out of the country. He
left last night.

A police spokesman said the force "has invested a substantial six-figure
sum of money into protecting this witness, relocating his family overseas,
supporting and caring for them for almost four years.

"The witness gave evidence that helped put behind bars some of the most
notorious criminals in Victoria. Police did not force the witness to give
evidence in the case."