TEENAGE BOYS IN $1.2M HEROIN SUPPLY RACKET REFUSED BAIL

SYDNEY: Two teenage boys who allegedly acted as bagmen in a $1.2
million heroin supply operation were refused bail in a Sydney court
yesterday.

Police picked up the two 16-year-olds after stopping a sedan on Friday
night. It contained just over 1kg of heroin and $48,000 in cash in $50
and $100 denominations.

The pair, one from Miranda and the other from Pyrmont, in Sydney, are
charged with possessing and supplying heroin with a street value of
over $1 million.

They faced Lidcombe Children's Court yesterday morning.

The teenagers were arrested when police became suspicious of the
vehicle they were driving in North Sydney.

The boys then crossed the Harbour Bridge and were later stopped by
police in Jones Street, Ultimo, shortly before 10pm.

In an interview with police, the Miranda teenager denied any knowledge
of the drugs and money, according to a statement of facts tendered in
court.

His bedroom at his parents' home was later searched by police but
nothing was found.

It was alleged that the boys met another boy at the Galaxy Amusement
Centre in George Street, Sydney.

On three or four occasions over the past three months, it was claimed
the boys drove to a site in Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, where an
unknown male threw a bag into the vehicle.

Sometimes the bag had heroin or about $10,000 cash, the statement
said.

It was alleged the boys then drove to a pool hall in Coogee, in
Sydney's east, where the bag was placed under a table where a man
described by one of the teenagers as 25 years of age, took the bag.

Each time the teenagers did this, they received $1000 cash, it was
alleged.

On the evening of October 8, one of the boys drove his sister's car
(the suspect sedan) to a car park, where he was handed a black bag.

The bag allegedly contained just over 1kg of heroin and $48,000
cash.

The boy from Pyrmont was allegedly told he would get $5000 for
delivering the bag.

He was said to have told the Miranda teenager that he would get $1500
for helping him deliver the bag to the same pool hall in Coogee.

The statement of facts said the teenager driving the car became
paranoid that he was being followed by police and he drove across the
Harbour Bridge to North Sydney, where he parked in a dead-end street.

Police became suspicious and followed it back to Ultimo, where they
stopped it.

The driver allegedly produced a driver's licence with someone else's
name on it.

In court yesterday, a solicitor for the Miranda teenager argued that
he had lived with his parents all his life, had strong community ties
and that he was a Year 10 student at a school with strict attendance
policies.

He said the boy's parents had a well-established business and their
own home in Miranda.

Registrar Marianne Higginson refused bail.

Both boys will appear at Bidura Children's Court on Thursday.