Man arrested, $50,000 cash seized in Delacombe bust

Updated November 2 2012 - 10:14am, first published August 7 2008 - 1:17pm

A DELACOMBE man has been arrested as part of a major drug trafficking bust.Police swooped on the man's house in Greenhalghs Rd on Wednesday afternoon following a seven month covert investigation, dubbed Operation Dinked.They seized drugs, more than $50,000 cash, two cars, two Harley Davidson motorcycles and six plasma televisions from the property.A 42-year-old man was arrested and taken to the Victoria Police St Kilda Rd Complex, where he was charged with trafficking cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamine, and possessing the proceeds of crime.The man was one of seven people arrested after simultaneous raids on properties in Melbourne, Ballarat and Macedon.Ballarat Regional Response Unit members carried out the raid with Victoria Police Drug Task Force detectives.Sergeant Paul Irving, of the Ballarat Regional Response Unit, described the drug ring as sophisticated."It was a large scale, sophisticated operation," he said."But it doesn't matter how sophisticated it is, if you're going to play with the edge of a sword, you're going to get cut."Sgt Irving said Wednesday's raids were a "good result" after months of hard work. "We've always got operations up and running and we work hand-in-hand with other agencies, not only the Drug Task Force," he said."If you participate in these illegal activities, you never know who's going to be knocking on your door."Between 80 and 90 police officers were involved in the raids.The Delacombe man has been bailed to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on September 18.Michael Manariti, 40, of Hillside, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of ecstasy, and trafficking cocaine, amphetamine and cannabis.He was remanded in custody to also re-appear on September 18.Three other men and a woman were also charged and bailed to appear in court on September 18.Detective Senior Sergeant Rob Ridley, of the Drug Task Force, said police had seized a large amount of drugs and property.

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