Police allege an immigration detainee used an encrypted messaging service to deal drugs and co-ordinate a network of runners outside the facility.
An immigration detainee and another man have been charged over an alleged drug ring operating from inside a detention facility.
Police say 49-year-old Nigerian national Dirichukwu Patrick Nweke dealt large amounts of methylamphetamine using an encrypted messaging service from Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney’s west.
Organised crime investigators claim he established and co-ordinated a network of runners who carried out transactions on his behalf.
They say they found three mobile phones during a search of a unit at the centre on July 11.
Nweke has been charged with multiple offences including directing a criminal group and supplying a large commercial quantity of prohibited drugs.
Two kilograms of methylamphetamine and $169,000 in cash linked to the syndicate were previously seized by officers, police said on Saturday.
On Wednesday, detectives uncovered 750 grams of methylamphetamine and 90 grams of heroin in a toilet bowl during a search of a home in Liverpool.
It’s alleged the find was evidence of ‘an attempt to dispose of the drugs’, while heroin was also found on the bathroom floor and $325,000 cash and an encrypted electronic device were also recovered.
Vision supplied by police shows riot squad officers breaking down the door as they started the search. They also released an image of $50 notes stacked inside a cardboard box.
Police also arrested a 24-year-old man they allege was a runner for the man in detention.
He’s been charged with two counts of supplying a prohibited drug, participating in a criminal group and other offences.
Both men were refused bail following brief appearances in court.