A driver has been charged after he allegedly had stolen items and prohibited drugs in his possession when stopped by police during the early hours of Monday.
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Officers pulled over a vehicle in Barrack Heights about 2am and found it had stolen number plates.
A check of the vehicle located stolen items – including laptops, credit cards, driver’s licences and power tools – as well as an amount of methamphetamine and cannabis.
The driver, a 35-year-old Mount Warrigal man, allegedly told police he was a disqualified driver.
The man was subjected to a random drug test, which returned a positive reading for methamphetamine.
The driver was arrested and taken to Lake Illawarra police station, where he was charged with a number of offences, including driving while disqualified, driving an unregistered vehicle and driving a vehicle displaying unauthorised number plates.
The man was also charged with being in possession of a knife in a public place, five counts of goods in custody and two counts of possessing a prohibited drug.
He was refused bail and will appear in Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday.
Police road safety blitz nabs drivers
A P-plater who allegedly tried to avoid officers conducting breath tests and a woman who blew almost three times the legal limit were among the drivers caught by Wollongong police over the long weekend.
Officers from the Wollongong and Lake Illawarra police districts were out in force completing thousands of breath and drug tests as part of a four-day holiday road blitz, Operation Stay Alert.
On Sunday, the penultimate day of the campaign, a 19-year-old provisional driver from Mittagong was stopped in Lysaght Street at North Wollongong.
“He was noticed turning off prior to the stationary RBT site that had been set up [on the Princes Highway],” Inspector Don Faulds, from Wollongong Police District, said.
The driver gave a positive breath test and was taken to Corrimal police station, where he returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.047 (special range).
He was issued a court notice to appear in Wollongong Local Court at a later date.
Meanwhile, a woman was charged after her blood alcohol reading was almost three times the legal limit.
Officers stopped the 43-year-old at an RBT site on the Princes Highway at Fairy Meadow about 8.55pm on Sunday.
The woman returned a mid-range reading of 0.133 and will front Wollongong Local Court.
Inspector Faulds said, as of early on Monday afternoon, Wollongong general duties and highway patrol officers had conducted in excess of 3000 random breath tests across the city’s police district over the long weekend.
Andrew Pearson
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
