Code Used In Covert Drug Calls

Newcastle Herald

Thursday May 15, 2008

By INGRID BOWN

A MAN allegedly recorded carrying out a string of drug deals in Lake Macquarie had been the subject of 24-hour surveillance at his Belmont home and taps on his mobile phone, home phone and in his car, a court has heard.

Eleven of the alleged methylamphetamine deals took place between April 11 and 21 after Francis Orchard had been arrested and charged over a drug deal on April 10, a police statement before Newcastle Local Court said.

Police said during more than 8000 intercepted calls between January and May, callers would use code to Orchard, including asking if he was "going fishing", if they could "pick up some bait", or if "he had the lawnmower".

Police allege that Orchard, 50, of Vista Parade, Belmont, and a co-accused, Darren Kenneth Burnett, 34, of Haig Street, Belmont, were the principals in a large-scale drug ring smashed last weekend by Lake Macquarie's Strike Force Nellinda.

On May 9, when police arrested seven people in raids in Sydney and Lake Macquarie, Burnett and an alleged accomplice, professional taxi driver Chad Kent Graham, 33, of Ellen Street, Belmont South, went to a home in the Sydney suburb of Balmain, police say. There, Burnett had used $110,000 allegedly sourced from Orchard to buy about half a kilo of methylamphetamine.

Later, police had found quantities of cannabis and methylamphetamine at the Belmont home of Burnett and his 28-year-old de facto Tara Taylor.

They had also found $48,000 in cash under a bed at a Belmont house belonging to Orchard's relatives and $9000 elsewhere in the house. At the Balmain address, they allegedly found a pill press and 50,000 ecstasy pills.

Orchard, Burnett, Taylor and Benjamin Gareth Watt, 26, of Lowana Crescent, Windale, faced court on Monday and all were remanded in custody. Watt was arrested after Burnett allegedly supplied him with 28 grams of methylamphetamine.

Graham appeared yesterday on four drugs charges, after police arrested him on Tuesday, and was refused bail.

Taylor, facing two drug supply charges, reappeared in court yesterday and was granted conditional bail.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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