Ep 21 - Gold Theft, Drug Busts and Stolen Propellers

Episode 21 of WA Police Confidential! The official WA Police Force Podcast.

On this week’s show:

- Senior Constable Oliver Taylor joins the pod to discuss his ROE Award win.

- Broome Detectives uncover a local drug bust, hear all about it with Senior Sergeant Trisha Stjepic! 

- Senior Constable Ryan Brown takes us through the investigation and conviction of a huge gold stealing operation.

- Karratha Detectives seek public assistance in relation to the theft of four tugboat propellers, Detective 1st Class Constable Steven Phillips explains.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

This podcast discusses real-life crimes and law enforcement matters. It may include detailed descriptions of criminal activity, traumatic incidents, and other content that could be confronting or distressing, particularly for victim survivors. Listener discretion is advised. If you find any of these topics upsetting, please consider whether this content is right for you and seek support if needed.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

And I'm Maya Greeve. Coming up in this episode, six people have been charged after a major drug trafficking investigation in Broome and the East Kimberley.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

We'll take you behind the results of that operation. Also, ahead, we'll take a look at Operation Roba, an investigation into organised property laundering linked to stolen gold nuggets valued at more than $860,000.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

And detectives in Caratha are seeking the public's help to follow a bold theft in Dampier, where four massive tugboat propellers, each weighing around two tons, were allegedly stolen.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

I have so many questions. How were they stolen? What do investigators know about the offenders, and what should the community be looking out for? We'll have all of that and more in today's episode. Stay with us as we delve into these investigations and the ongoing work of WA Police to keep our community safe. This is WA Police Confidential.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Welcome back to WA Police Confidential. We are now joined by Detective Senior Constable Oliver Taylor. He was recently recognised for his exceptional work commitment to protecting children through their through his tireless work investigating serious offences against vulnerable victims. His determination, professionalism, and investigative expertise has seen him pursue complex and challenging investigations, even bringing dangerous offenders to justice. You're investigating offences against children, and sometimes that can be considered quite challenging work. What motivates you to continue to kind of keep doing this important work?

SPEAKER_01 2:10

I think for that very point it is important. I view it as important, and the community views it as important. I'm a community member just like everybody else, and I take the security of our risks to children very seriously. The cohort of offenders that we manage are post-sentence convicted child offenders, those that have committed offences against children. And yeah, it's a real motivator to try and protect sort of the most vulnerable in our community, really.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Absolutely. We spoke a little bit about a um case that you worked on, which ended in a 13-year custodial sentence of a man. Can you kind of tell us a little bit about that case?

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Yeah, sure. Um so the uh the mother of uh an initial victim in that matter um noticed some strange transactions uh on the bank records of the daughter uh and made a report to a police station. Um and the police station um then facilitated her reporting uh on the uh cyber.gov.au slash report website, which is where we triage uh online offending. Um that was quickly understood to be uh payment from uh a reportable offender. Um so that is somebody that is on the uh the child sex offender register effectively. Um and because of that, that uh investigation then came to our office and I was given um the responsibility to investigate that. Um we uh we interviewed the child uh under the child interview um framework. The specialist investigative interview um and uh did a search warrant uh and arrested the the suspect in that matter. Um so I uh did some digital forensic analysis of uh devices that were seized and identified that there were a significant uh number of uh other potential victims. So um uh we then did some uh analysis of bank records effectively. There was an awful lot of um uh work with bank records. Uh I was actually on the phone for up to two hours at a time with the uh with the person that was sort of assigned to me um as part of that bank. Um so it was quite a significant undertaking um analysing all of those records and uh coming to understand who the people were. Um it was actually just to give you an idea of the scale of it, there was uh nearly a hundred potential victims uh in that uh that came out of that those bank records.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

When you get a number like potentially a hundred victims, what goes through your mind, your team's mind, how how are you gonna kind of break that down and see where you can actually go from there?

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah, um I suppose initially you realised that it's gonna be a fair piece of work, and that's when we initiated Operation Stellaria um in order to manage all the different actions that were required. But um ultimately it's it is a quite a hard slog to go through that amount of information. Um we obviously prioritise uh what we thought would be contact offending uh and we uh prioritised by age. Um so the most vulnerable would be dealt with first in that regard. So um that's the approach that we took. There were interstate issues as well. Um we by that time knew where the offender was. Um so, for example, we knew that he wasn't going to be contact offending out of state at that at that time, so those would probably uh go further down the list. So that's how we prior prioritise it. Um and then uh it's a question of identification. Um so we had a couple of different channels that we could use to identify, obviously, the the records that I've already mentioned. Um, and there was a fair amount of material that was found, so uh child exploitation material images um of of children. Um and uh we're very lucky to have the uh victim identification team working with child exploitation operations, so another squad within Waypal. Um and they were able to provide the identity of 18 um potential victims um through the the uh tools that they use. Um and we were able to uh then reach out through the joint anti-child exploitation team, which is um also with CEO uh in order liaise with interstate authorities so that those people could be engaged as well.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

It must be one of those things where you know, like Maya said, a hundred potential victims. You know, you've you've got your processes of how you then identify them and how you get in contact with them. But from a um personal perspective, I suppose, can you explain how that feels to to have potentially a hundred victims like in this case?

SPEAKER_01 6:53

I think when you realise that somebody's out there causing the damage that they're causing. Um it's it's a real motivator. Um there's no problem in getting up and going to work in the morning when you realise that you're you you're taking that investigation that on the to the next step. Um yeah, so it it's it it was manageable. I had some fantastic support. My sergeant at the time, uh Detective Sergeant Cam Auckland, um, uh was able to provide advice. I was a probationary detective at the time, uh, and he gave me some uh some steers along the way, a lot of a lot of guidance along the way, so that was really useful. Um uh yeah, so it felt like a big task, um, but at the time I was sort of chipping away and only sort of in retrospect, I suppose, looking at uh what was disclosed then to the um the director of public prosecutions. Um do you realise how how expensive it was, I suppose. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

And where do you take the investigation from there? Obviously, it goes through court, you've charged this person, um, and to get the outcome that that you guys did, um, is it rewarding to have that go through the court and and get that conviction and sentence?

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Uh yeah, it's it it is rewarding. The a pivotal part of it was um supporting the the victims in the matter uh and seeing them uh a few of them actually came to sentencing, and I think that was an important sort of part of their journey. So to to see them sort of um uh go from quite a state of sort of distress, I suppose, having experienced what they experienced um to at least make some uh sort of improvement or make some steps towards um uh yeah, getting through what they've what they've been through. That was that was pretty significant.

unknown 8:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

And these aren't just numbers, right? These aren't just you know faceless victims. For you guys, they are you know, they are real people at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah, they are absolutely and they uh they they've all got a um a vulnerability, I suppose, that's been preyed on for some reason. I mean children are inherently vulnerable in the community, uh, and uh with adults with bad intentions uh are able to exploit that vulnerability given the opportunity. So um yeah, they are members of the community, the members of our community. Um so yeah, it's um it means a lot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:06

It's very important work that you guys do, and you've been recognized recently for for that work as well.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Yeah, I didn't expect quite the attention that I've got, to be honest with you. But it's um yeah, after having had a a couple of successful outcomes of a similar nature to to this one, it's really the icing on the cake to have the recognition. So um yeah, it's been a fantastic experience.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Absolutely. Did um when you got when you found out that you were nominated and that you had become a finalist and then eventually the winner of the state award for individual, what was kind of going through your head?

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Um yeah, I don't think any of us really do the work that we do, uh hoping to uh sort of get the recognition um that that's that's happened. But um yeah, so it came as quite a surprise. Um and yeah, I'm pretty comfortable in doing the work that I do. I'm you know happy doing that, but um uh yeah, getting up and making speeches in front of people and that sort of thing. Uh yeah, it's a different um it's a different cattle of fish. But yeah, no, really proud. And um uh yeah, obviously the the amount of effort that's gone in uh from the team and from other areas within WA police has been really significant as well.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

Well, it's very, very important work that you guys do, and it is very important that we recognise that even though if you you know, even if you don't like being in the limelight, um so congratulations again. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

This is WA Police Confidential.

SPEAKER_03 10:30

Welcome back to WA Police Confidential. We're now joined by Senior Sergeant Trish Stepitch. Now, Trish, you've had a pretty massive um job that's gone, you know, that's gone underway in Broome and East in the East Kimberley. Um six people have been charged. Can you tell us where it all started?

SPEAKER_06 10:51

Uh it initially all started at one of the freight yards in Broome, where we managed to intercept the parcel, which, upon initial examination, appeared suspicious. Uh, once we opened the parcel, um, it appeared to be a motorcycle battery. And then on upon further examination of that, inside it was contained 84 grams of methylenphetamines. Um, and that was destined for an address in Kananada. And then later that afternoon, we did um some examinations at another location. Um and we intercepted 198 grams of cocaine and then a further 3.5 grams of methylamphetamines, um, which were both destined for addresses in boot.

SPEAKER_03 11:41

And so this is a um, you know, in the grand scheme of things, it's it's a pretty um big interception in terms of no matter how m much is kind of in the community, it's all of these interceptions are really important, right?

SPEAKER_06 11:57

Yeah, I mean, um 198 grams of cocaine would do harm in Broom, such a small community, and then even smaller community up in Katanara having 84 grams of methylamphetamine hits the streets up there could would have caused a significant issue for the uh local police officers up there. And you know, I just look at how much resources we saved of you know, crime that's potentially been stopped, I guess, from these drugs being seized with alcohol and drug fuel violence up there.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Tricia, sorry, working over like jurisdiction jurisdiction lines with you guys helping out South Australia police as well, how important is that cooperation between yourself up in the Kimberley to all the way down in South Australia?

SPEAKER_06 12:46

Um, not only that, it was between Bullroom and Calonara just to get the local support of um Calonara detectives jumping on board and helping us out, and then obviously crossing over to South Australia border, it was a massive result for them. And the offender over in South Australia or the accused, um, he was known to them and they've jumped on that straight away and began the investigation. And we had cooperation within 24-48 hours, and um, you know, now as a result of their investigation over there, they straight away identified their supplier. So it's cut off a supply chain into Western Australia, um, and now he's in custody over there and assisting them with their um inquiries and further investigations.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

Yeah, so obviously something that started off as as a seizure, you know, in a smaller, more remote area of WA is you know, is stopped really in interstate drug supply, which is which is really great work by by the team up there and and like we said, counterparts in South Australia as well. So uh congratulations on such a good result. And um, yeah, we I mean we can't ask for more than that taking drugs off the street. It's you know, it's really good police work.

SPEAKER_06 13:56

Yeah, I mean it was good as well. We had um Cannington detectives jump on board in Perth as well once we they assisted with identifying the supplier of the cocaine up in up to the Kimberley. So there was the additional results that down there, and um, he was arrested on Friday, um, and there was a large number of charges preferred against him as well.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

Thank you so much for joining us, Tricia, and um yeah, keep up the great work up there. Too easy. Thank you. Thanks for your time. Thanks, Heath. Welcome back to WA Police Confidential. We're now joined by Detective First Class Constable Stephen Phillips, um, here to talk to us about a little bit of a unique uh investigation that he's looking into up in Damp here. So thank you so much for jumping on.

SPEAKER_04 14:44

That's right, good morning.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

Tell us firstly what was stolen and how heavy is it that was the items that were stolen.

SPEAKER_04 14:54

Oh, okay. So the uh the probably the major thing that you're focused on is the stealing of um four tugboat propellers. Now, this this was a um that first got reported in relation to it was noticed that it was copper stealing from the same yard. And so the propellers themselves are really the focus of the investigation just because the um simply the size of them. So the propellers themselves are 2.7 meters in diameter um and they weigh approximately two tons, and they're uh they're on a bronze alloy, which is a copper nickel um bronze composite. Um they are on uh with 52 transport frames that uh allowed for ease of access, so they can pick it with a forklift or through a crane, and that makes them even wider. So to move them, they'll probably be around about the three two and a half ton mark, and they're about 3.2 to 3.3 meters wide. So it makes um makes the moving of the transport of them very difficult because they'd be an overwide load, and to drive on a normal road, it would require flags in the proper vehicles and transport to do so.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

So not an easy target to steal, is what I'm gathering.

SPEAKER_04 16:03

Um no, not at all. No.

SPEAKER_03 16:06

And in Dampier, right. So there's it's fairly remote. Tell us a little bit about the location, I suppose, that these propellers were stolen from, um, and and you know, where you guys are based in relation to that.

SPEAKER_04 16:20

Okay, so we're based in Karatha. So Karatha is um is a little bit more inland, so it's about 15 kilometers from Dampier. So Dampier is the original small town site that's on the coast on the Borough Peninsula, and the mine site is on the Borough, which is off the main highway there. But it was the site where they're stolen from was a laydown yard for the critical spurs for the resource centers out that way. Um, yeah, the the yard itself was only accessible through a private road and it is a locked compound.

SPEAKER_03 16:54

And so quite remote, um, obviously. So that obviously makes your job a little harder to find out what happened to these propellers. Where is the investigation at at the moment?

SPEAKER_04 17:06

Well, like it like you mentioned, yeah, so it is it is makes it more difficult because um, firstly, the movement of the mining equipment being a resource industry in or a mining town. So the movement of um things in bright yellow um cages or on heavy vehicles or um vehicles coming up and down the highway is not unusual at all hours of the evening or day day or night. And also the area that it was stolen from the there is no CCTV. Um it's not part of the residential area, so witnesses are limited. So it's um yeah, it makes it difficult, and that's where the appeal comes from. The appeal for information is because um we believe that someone will know something, have seen something, and it might not have been unusual at the time, but it's yeah, that's that's pretty much where we're at.

SPEAKER_03 17:54

Yeah, it could be something that you guys need to help solve this.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 17:58

Definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Is there something that I guess obviously two uh sorry, four massive propellers would be the main thing to look out for? But is there anything else that you can kind of give us that might help people remember what they could have potentially seen?

SPEAKER_04 18:14

Uh yeah. So consider like I mentioned before about the prop propellers, um, what I think probably don't understand is they're not um quite readily something that you can sell. So the propellers themselves are native specifications, so they were built in Japan. They're built for a certain type of topboat. They're also um as they are machined to a specification and a certain type of alloy for the metal, and they can only be sold or generally should only be sold with a certificate. So anything, anyone uh recall wouldn't be able to just go and buy them cheaper for the same purpose because obviously mining industries it's uh heavily regulated. So what I believe has probably happened and is they've been stolen for to be sold as scrap, which means they could have been moved and then cut up using an OxyKid or a plasma torch and then sold as a as a bronze alloy in in pieces across maybe multiple places, um, and may not just be in one hit. So the the thing that we probably want to get out there is is really to raise the awareness through the scrap dealers to hopefully that they can keep an eye out for or maybe have received it. And any information along that line would be would be most helpful.

SPEAKER_03 19:30

Well, hopefully this triggers someone's memory and someone saw something that can help. Um, thank you very much for joining us and um yeah, keep up the good work.

SPEAKER_04 19:40

Uh my pleasure. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

This is WA Police Confidential Welcome back to WA Police Confidential. Well, I'm now joined by Senior Constable Ryan Brown from the Gold Stealing Detection Unit. He's gonna take us through a pretty um pretty interesting investigation. So thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_05 20:07

No worries.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

Can you tell us a little bit about firstly what it is you guys do at the gold stealing detection unit?

SPEAKER_05 20:16

Yeah, so we're a specialist uh gold uh detection unit. Basically, we investigate the theft of gold from mine sites. Um and uh that both includes uh people who break onto a mine site to steal gold ore, and also uh employees that work on mine sites who may um steal uh gold product as well.

SPEAKER_03 20:40

And and just on that, I suppose it sort of is is the perfect segue into what we're talking about, and that is Operation Roba. Um, tell us a little bit about how this investigation started.

SPEAKER_05 20:52

It started back in 2023 when we received some information from um someone in Perth regarding a couple of transactions that had taken place at a gold buyer's um at a shopping centre. So we had a look into that uh summer and we identified a female um had sold uh approximately 600 grams, which at the time was worth $13,000. Now it was quite a significant amount, and we we conducted some inquiries into that and we identified uh her partner, uh, a male who was um uh also involved in uh selling some amounts of gold. And we established through open source intelligence that he was working on a mine site just south of Kalgooli. And when we identified that he was working at a um a gold mine, uh that's when the operation really kicked off.

SPEAKER_03 21:51

And what was it that really tipped you off in terms of um I suppose this being a really um Something that you guys had to step into. This isn't just just any sort of stealing or, you know, sort of property money laundering incident. What was it that made this one really kind of stick out to you guys?

SPEAKER_05 22:13

Well, so we've got a pretty good relationship with uh some of our gold buyers in Perth. And we reached out to this uh particular company and asked for images of the gold, and the gold was very distinctive. It was flat in um nature, which to us uh usually gold uh when you f find it prospecting, it usually isn't flat. Uh it's got, you know, uh bumps and lumps uh to it. Now, this uh flat characteristic to this gold uh indicated that it was from a processing plant. And when uh we obviously identified the male working on a gold mine, then that um yeah, that definitely raised our suspicions. And yeah, that's when we uh commenced the investigation.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

And when you did commence that investigation, obviously, well, firstly, the amount of gold was um significant in itself. Uh, it's obviously a hot commodity, so um, you know, that would have been uh I'd imagine a mo a motivating factor for you guys to really find out what happened here. Where where did the investigation lead to from there?

SPEAKER_05 23:19

Yeah, definitely. So we we looked into the transactions by this male and female, and we identified that they'd been selling gold uh to this gold buyer from 2022 to 20 uh 24. And yeah, we it worked out to be a total of 6.8 kilos uh uh that they had sold uh to this particular gold buyer. Now uh at today's value that's uh around $850,000. Um so at the time we were very um yeah, very interested to uh to obviously stop this and stop the gold from being taken from the um from the mine site.

SPEAKER_03 24:02

And you did uh eventually get to um a conviction and and a sentence. Um tell us a little bit about about that person and how that sort of all eventuated through court.

SPEAKER_05 24:16

Yeah, so we um after we obviously identified these two, um we needed to act fast and uh uh execute a search warrant uh at an address in Perth. So we um utilizing the the Rockingham uh Rapid High Harm Offenders team, they uh assisted us in conducting that uh search warrant in order to uh obtain evidence in relation to the offense. So they they were uh both arrested uh and then you know taken back to the to the police station in question regarding the matter, where they were uh subsequently charged. But uh that the operation didn't end there. We uh then utilized uh some covert strategies uh in order to obtain further evidence uh of uh both the accused, where during that um that uh, I guess, uh evidence gathering stage, we ended up um ascertaining that there was numerous people uh from the mine site working in a syndicate uh in order to steal the gold uh from the site and then have it sold uh in Perth. And uh the accused that was charged, uh he was used uh as the person to go and sell that gold. And then the the the money that was obtained from the sale was then passed on uh to these to these other team members.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

That's a huge um huge operation, like really putting an end to a syndicate that's happening across the state, you know, obviously regionally and then back in Perth as well. Um, how rewarding was it, I suppose, to well, not only then find out that, you know, this is actually a much bigger operation that you guys are sort of investigating, but when you do um, I suppose put it put an end to that, how rewarding is it?

SPEAKER_05 26:12

Yeah, it is it is very rewarding. Um it was a lot of work put in uh by our team and by our intelligence analyst um who assisted a lot with that investigation. And then when we uh eventually uh you know charged uh both the offenders or a number of the offenders, uh it was um yeah, it was very rewarding for all.

SPEAKER_03 26:35

And obviously that's gone through court and we've had a result um just this week. So um yeah, congratulations.

SPEAKER_05 26:42

Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

Yeah, well, thank you so much for joining us. And um, yeah, well, hopefully this is the uh you know, the first one that we chat about on the podcast of many. Um I'm sure you've got plenty going on up there, so thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_05 26:56

Norris, thanks for your time.

SPEAKER_03 27:06

Welcome back to WA Police Confidential. Well, this week in news, detectives from Rapid Apprehension Squad are investigating two incidents to determine whether they're linked. They both occurred on Saturday, the 27th of July, in Heathridge and Balladura. So just before five o'clock in the afternoon, a group of five males, all wearing face coverings, entered a liquor store on Carradine Street in Heathridge. One of the males produced an edged weapon and threatened a staff member. They were chased out of the store, and all four of the males, uh or five of the males, I should say, fled the scene. Um then just before 5.30, a group of males entered a liquor store on Illawarra Crescent in Balladura. Those males have taken a number of alcoholic items from the store without paying. Um, so Rapid Apprehension Squad detectives are investigating whether those two incidents are linked. There is an opportunity for anyone with information relating to both of those incidents to contact Crime Stoppers if they've got anything that can help investigators solve this case. Well, Maya, last week we mentioned we'd explore the remarkable story of the Scotland Yard detective who left three extraordinary legacies here in WA. So the police gazette was actually one of them. It marks 150 years in print this year, and it all started with that undercover detective from Scotland Yard. So the its founder and first editor, Detective Sergeant Thomas Rowe, he arrived in WA in 1868, not as a convict, but as an undercover Scotland Yard detective. Officially listed as a warder, Roe was uh was tasked with monitoring a group of Irish political prisoners known as the Fenians. And if anyone has seen the Netflix series Guinness, you'll know about the Fenians. Um highly recommend if no one's seen it. Some of those would later make a dramatic escape, and we'll look into that story very soon. But for now, Roe must have done a pretty good job. So he was asked to stay here and sign up for the WA Police Force, and within five years he was actually leading the newly established criminal investigation branch. Then, if that didn't keep him busy enough, in March 1876, he launched the very first edition of the Police Gazette. A century and a half later, the Gazette is still being published, making it one of Western Australia's longest-running public sector publications. Thanks for listening to WA Police Confidential. To finish off this episode, we'd like to take you to Gold by Spanto Ballet by our very own WA Police Pipe Band. Enjoy the WA Police Confidential was produced by Joe Garris, Danny Vandeveer, Lisa Evans, and Sam Oo. Sound editing by Joe and Danny and Sam. Cover song by the WA Police Pipe Band, and cheesy podcast theme music by Joey Catanzaro. By the way, why just listen to a podcast about policing when you could actually be doing it? Let's join forces.wa.gov.au