Eighteen have been charged during a one-day police operation targeting street-level crime – including knife crime – across the public transport sectors in north-western and south-western metropolitan Sydney.
Operation Colossus is an ongoing Police Transport Command (PTC) intelligence-driven operation targeting known crime hotspot locations across the public transport system, including trains, buses and transport hubs.
A total of 77 officers from the PTC South-West Sector, PTC North-West Sector, drug detection dogs, bicycle police and the Mounted Unit were deployed across the Sydney transport network for a one-day operation.
During the operation, police seized three knives, conducted 80 person searches, issued 115 infringement notices for transport offences and issued 59 move-on directions.
Additionally, police made 18 arrests for a range of offences including robbery in company, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possess prohibited drug, mid-range PCA, goods in custody, custody of a knife, outstanding warrants and transport offences.
Of note;
- A 15-year-old boy charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Rooty Hill
- A 16-year-old boy charged with robbery in company at Marrickville
- A 42-year-old man charged with custody of a knife, intimidate police and transport offences at Cabramatta
Operation Commander, Chief Inspector Colin Moore, said that the operation was one of many planned across the public transport system in the lead-up to the traditional busier end of the year.
"Experience has shown that as we approach the warmer months and restrictions on movement ease, people use the transport system as a means to commit opportunistic crime," Ch Insp Moore said.
"Everyone using the public transport system has a right to feel safe and not be threatened by anti-social and criminal behaviour.
"Operation Colossus has proven to be a successful strategy in detecting and deterring those behaviours and supports the good proactive work done by our police conduct on a day-to-day basis.
"We will continue to run these high-visibility operations on and around the transport network, so that commuters and the community alike will feel safer using trains and buses, and those people – who choose to flaunt the law – will be dealt with," Ch Insp Moore said.
