2 men charged after cannabis found in Northland operation
Victoria Police arrested 20 people during a drug and weapons operation at Northland's retail hub in Preston on 20 and 29 October. Two men were charged after police allegedly found cannabis alongside weapons, while 15 of the arrests were for drug possession overall.
🇦🇺 Northland retail hub, Preston, Melbourne · Victoria, Australia
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Arrested
2
Charged
2
Preston police officers, with assistance from the Dog Squad and Transit
officers, targeted drug and weapons offences at Northland’s retail hub in an
operation that ran on 20 and 29 October.[1]Police arrested 20 people in the
operation, including 15 for drug possession.[1]Police arrested 20 people in
an operation targeting drug activity and weapons in Northland’s retail hub in
October.[2]
A 28-year-old Whittlesea man was arrested after police allegedly located
weapons, cannabis and methylamphetamine.[1]He was charged with possess
imitation firearm, possess prohibited weapon (x6), possess controlled weapon
without lawful excuse and drug offences and remanded to appear at court at a
later date.[1]A 49-year-old Reservoir man was arrested after officers
allegedly located knuckle dusters and cannabis.[1]He was charged with possess
a drug of dependence and a prohibited weapon and bailed to appear at court at a
later date.[1]
Officers searched upwards of 50 people and actioned 10 outstanding matters
during the operation.[1]Nine weapons were seized, including an imitation
firearm, a baton, knuckle dusters and knives.[1]Passive Alert Detection (PAD)
dogs were utilised during the operation to detect illicit drugs.[1]
No weight, packaging or form was published for the cannabis allegedly located on the two men.
The sources give only the operation days of 20 and 29 October 2026; 29 October is used as the incident date and no separate date is given for the individual arrests.
A 29-year-old Reservoir woman was also arrested and charged for allegedly possessing an unspecified drug of dependence, so she is not counted in the cannabis figures.
The operation-wide totals of 20 arrests and 15 drug-possession arrests include non-cannabis and unspecified drug cases and are given as context, not as cannabis figures.
The page carries only a generic 2019 police stock image that does not show this operation, so no media entry is added.
Far North police stopped a Holden sedan 30 km north of Marla on 5 November 2026 and arrested two Port Augusta men aged 21 and 22. Officers allegedly found a trafficable quantity of cannabis plus 33 four-litre casks and whisky; both men were charged with commercial drug trafficking and supplying liquor to a prescribed area.
A 56-year-old Bentley man was arrested after allegedly threatening staff with improvised nunchucks at Hannah Beazley's Victoria Park office on 21 October 2026. He was charged with being armed to cause fear, making an unlawful threat and possessing cannabis, was refused bail and was due in Perth Magistrates Court.
South Australia police searched a Highgate home on 25 September 2026, arresting a man aged 30 and a woman aged 23 and seizing 700 grams of cannabis alongside cocaine, ketamine, MDMA and $72,595 cash. The pair were charged with trafficking offences, refused police bail and listed to face the Adelaide Magistrates Court on 28 September.
NSW Police's Parkes Rural Crime Prevention Team searched a property on Cooka Hills Road, Cookamidgera, on 16 September 2026, seizing four firearms, ammunition, a hydroponic setup and one cannabis plant. A 41-year-old man was charged with firearms offences and remanded to appear in the bail court the next day.
