Sydney Police Seize Dozens Of Bags Of Cocaine During First Freedom Weekend

New South Wales Police have absolutely cleaned up on the first weekend since lockdown restrictions eased across the state.

Authorities seized 119 bags of cocaine in Sydney over Saturday (October 16) and Sunday (October 17), which amounts to around $50,000.

Police also nabbed $30,000 in cash, which was believed to have been from the sales of the illegal white substance.

A taxi driver was one of 17 people arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine in Sydney during the blitz.

Eastern Suburbs Commander Detective Superintendent Martin Fileman said: "This weekend there was a focused effort targeting anti-social behaviour - and thanks to the work of our officers $50,000 worth of cocaine is now off our streets and 17 people have been charged.

"With the reopening of licensed venues and the weather warming up, we are expecting lots of people out and about in the eastern suburbs, so police will be out to make sure everyone stays safe.

"The community can be assured that police will maintain a highly visible presence to ­target these types of illicit ­activities and other criminal behaviour.

"We want to send a clear message to people who think they can partake in illicit activities.

"These are serious offences, you will be charged and put before the courts."

What baffled police the most was that this operation wasn't specifically targeting drugs and was simply designed to monitor people on their first weekend of freedom.

Their seizure also confirmed what many of coke users have suspected: when you buy a one gram bag, you're not getting one gram of coke.

Despite capturing nearly 120 individually packaged baggies, police noted the total amount only weighed 94.2 grams, which means on average a user is only getting 0.8 of a gram when they order cocaine.

Police say the Bankstown taxi driver, who allegedly was in possession of 34 bags of cocaine, only collectively had 20.9 grams. That works out to be just 0.6 grams of cocaine.

Detective Superintendent Fileman said: "It shows that these drug dealers are not averse to ripping off their customers and a lot of them are not getting the amount they believed they had paid for."

Featured Image Credit: NSW Police

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie