Charges laid over Busselton illegal tobacco haul

It has been a busy few weeks for Busselton Police, with multiple charges laid over an illegal tobacco operation which uncovered around $500,000 in illegal products.

Senior Sergeant Chris Yexley said police conducted a search warrant on a shop on Prince Street on May 5, following information provided by members of the public.

“A search of the shop revealed approximately $30,000 in illegal tobacco products and a small amount of cash,” he said.

“Further information was received as a result of this search, and a further two searches were carried out on separate storage units within Busselton.

“Two people were arrested at this location and a search revealed approximately $500,000 in illegal tobacco items along with approximately $65,000 in cash.”

Two people were charged with Unlawful Possession of Property and Sell Tobacco Without a Licence. Sgt Yexley said the shop is believed to be linked to organised crime in the eastern states.

“It’s of concern that eastern states organised crime [outfits] are setting their sights on towns within WA. Selling these illegal tobacco items can be very profitable for organised crime, which we obviously want to stamp out of our community.

“We have seen what has happened over east with fire bombings and other serious crime linked to these tobacco shops, which we do no want here, and we will continually look at disrupting all organised crime activities.”

Later that week, Police received numerous reports from Yalyalup residents of thefts from motor vehicles.

“Police quickly responded and were assisted by overwhelming response for requests of CCTV in the area,” Sgt Yexley said.

“Two juveniles were identified and apprehended within hours. Both were charged with nine stealing offences each, and placed on curfew conditions to appear at the Busselton Children’s Court at a later date.

“We would like to thank the community for assisting with CCTV which helped identify these people so quickly.”

Sgt Yexley said it was important to remember that reporting crime on social media does not guarantee police will be aware.

“There was a slight delay to responding due to numerous people reporting the matter on Facebook and not to police,” he said.

“It was only that some officers happened to be in that group and read the posts that morning that police were initially informed.

“It meant we had to try and identify victims from Facebook rather than just speaking to them directly in the first place.”

At around 10:50pm on the night of Saturday May 10, police responded to a crash at a shopping complex on Bussell Highway.

On arrival, they found a lone female attempting to drive the vehicle away. The car had crashed into bollards and become stuck.

The woman exited the vehicle and assisted by St John Ambulance officers, police attempted to engage her before she produced a large diving knife.

“After several minutes of negotiations, the female was able to be taken into custody, where it will be further alleged she kicked and spat on officers, causing injuries to them,” Sgt Yexley said.

She was charged with Being armed in a way that may cause fear, two charges of Assault public officers, and two charges of Obstructing public officers. Her bail was refused and she was later remanded into custody.