POLICE allege four men charged as part of a Tamworth-led drug investigation travelled to the Central Coast to conduct a drug deal.
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Paul Andrew Allan of Westdale and Dean Farrant of Quipolly have been refused bail as part of investigations by Strike Force Boikonumba – an undercover operation by Oxley police.
Allan, 49, is accused of supplying more than 25kg of cannabis and was arrested alongside Dean Farrant when police swooped on Monday morning in Freeman’s Waterhole, near the Central Coast.
Police will allege the pair travelled from Tamworth to the location and were set to exchange money in return for drugs when they were intercepted by a swarm of police.
The sting involved Oxley detectives, police from the Tamworth Target Action Group as well as highway patrol officers, the dog squad and police from Lake Macquarie.
Van Hieu Vu, 43, of Croydon, in Sydney’s inner west and 33-year-old Quang Thang Bui of Bass Hill near Bankstown in Sydney, were charged with drug supply, while Bui is also charged with dealing in the proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group.
Allan is charged with commercial supply of the drug cannabis, supplying an indictable quantity of drugs, knowingly taking part in the supply of methylamphetamine, knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group.
He was questioned by Oxley investigators at Toronto Police Station and charged and spent Monday night in custody before fronting court on Tuesday afternoon.
Farrant, 46, is accused of supplying and indictable quantity of cannabis, supplying methylamphetamine, knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group.
He also spent Monday night in the cells of the police station before fronting court on Tuesday.
The pair were not required to enter pleas to the charges and investigators have been granted two months to compile a brief of evidence against them.
Both men, along with Bui, made no application for bail in Toronto Local Court on Tuesday and it was formally refused by magistrate Alan Railton, who ordered all three to remain in custody until the case returns to court in Newcastle in April.
Vu was granted bail to live in Croydon, report daily to police, only have one mobile phone, not leave the NSW metropolitan area, surrender his passport and must post $10,000 in surety.
Oxley police confirmed “further arrests and further charges” are expected after cash and illegal drugs including what police allege is cannabis was seized in the five raids in Tamworth, Caroona and Quipolly on Monday.
No charges have been laid in relation to the search warrants, while a “large quantity of cannabis” and cash was seized along with two cars when the four were intercepted at Freeman’s Waterhole.