Tip-offs raising rates of arrests
A LARGE cannabis crop with a potential street value of more than $2 million was the biggest of many drug busts made in the Far North due to public tipoffs last year.
Four men are facing charges over the seizure of almost 800 mature cannabis plants and about 80kg of dried cannabis at a Mulligan Highway property in October.
It comes as figures show Cairns led the state in Crime Stoppers-related drug busts during 2016 with a yield of drugs worth $2,218,120.
Far North drug squad detective Senior Sergeant Kevin Goan said the result reflected how vital public information was in their fight against drugrelated offending.
“It just shows the strength of character of Far North Queensland people that see us continue to wage war on criminal activity,” he said.
The annual figures released by Crime Stoppers show Far North police arrested 106 people, charging them with 271 offences, based on tip-offs last year.
Cairns had the eighth-highest 2016 rate of Crime Stoppers-related arrests across Queensland.
The Gold Coast, Ipswich, Townsville, Sunshine Coast and Caboolture were the top five.
Across the state, 46,963 calls resulted in 3102 arrests, 8557 charges, $8,382,616 in drugs seized, property worth $238,000 recovered and $569,443 in proceeds of crime collected.
Crime Stoppers Queensland chief executive Trevor O’Hara said drugs, weapons, assaults and property offences were the top crimes reported by Cairns residents.
He said, while there were fewer calls in 2016, more of the calls contained high-quality information that resulted in a record number of arrests.
“It’s our fourth consecutive record-breaking year,” he said of the registered charity’s 2016 outcomes.
“We’ve been pushing heavily to get people to ring us about things that we can help with and this means we can hand good reports to police.”
Mr O’Hara urged people to give as much information about crimes as possible when contacting Crime Stoppers.
Crimes can be reported via 1800 333 000, www.crimestop persqld.com.au or the Crime Stoppers app.