Two people arrested and charged over allegedly supplying remote Aboriginal communities with alcohol and drugs

Two men have been arrested and charged over allegedly supplying remote Aboriginal communities with alcohol and drugs. A 29-year-old Northern Territory man and a second person are alleged to have sold alcohol to restricted communities, as well as shipped drugs over from South Australia to be sold to vulnerable groups. The cross-border operation, involving the WA Police Force, Northern Territory Police and South Australia Police, was launched due to an increasing trend of family violence, and other crimes throughout several communities in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands area, which stretches throughout the Goldfields and the borders of the respective States and Territories. Police said initial investigations into those incidents identified the use of Cannabis and the consumption of alcohol as contributing factors. The areas the drugs and alcohol were allegedly sold to included communities which are policed as part of a cross-border partnership between the States and Territories. Following an investigation, Warakurna Police and the Drug and Firearm Squad searched a home in the Docker River Community in the Northern Territory. A 29-year-old man was arrested and charged with possession of a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply, offer to supply a prohibited drug, possession of stolen or unlawfully obtained property (cash) and possession of drug paraphernalia. He has been remanded in custody and is next due to face the Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court on October 7. A second person was also arrested and charged in relation to the possession of illicit drugs and the taking of alcohol onto community land. Goldfields - Esperance District Acting Detective Inspector Shayne Knox said the impact of family violence is felt across the state, and police resources will be sent wherever they are needed to target the crime-related contributing factors. “We know that in some of our remote Aboriginal communities, we are seeing Cannabis use as a key contributing factor to the prevalence of family violence incidents, and it is critical that we target the root cause, being those people supplying drugs to vulnerable community members. “It is always disappointing when we see criminals taking advantage of vulnerable people, and we will continue working to identify other people involved in the supply of illicit drugs to our remote communities. “The Lands may be 1,500km from Perth, but the way we respond to family violence in our outback communities is just as important as our response to the same incidents in our main regional centres and the Perth metropolitan area. “Our Police Air Wing fleet, and advances in our targeting capabilities mean we can target perpetrators regardless of how remote the location is. “Our partnerships with Northern Territory Police and South Australia Police make cross-border operations such as this possible, and our fleet of aircraft make it possible to deploy specialist officersfrom Perth to wherever they are needed to support local police.”