JANUARY 27, 2015 \ BRIMBANK.STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
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Homage to a good home
(Wayne Hawkins)
If Brimbank had a guardian angel, it would be Deer Park resident Kim Thien Truong. The avid charity and volunteer worker has been crowned Brimbank’s citizen of the year, and with good reason. The Vietnamese-Australian established Kim’s Foundation of Hope six years ago and has raised nearly $200,000 for the treatment of four sick children overseas. She has also helped countless others with student scholarships. “When I arrived in Australia, I couldn’t believe how well I was looked after,” Ms Truong, pictured left, says. “One day I was sick with a fever and one of the ladies from church took me to hospital. When I woke up, it was night and she was still beside my bed. It touched my heart. She wasn’t my mum or aunty, yet she opened her heart to me and I knew I wanted to do the same for others.” Ms Truong has raised more than $11,000 for the Cancer Council and $18,000 for Queensland flood victims in 2010-11. She has volunteered for Clean Up Australia Day since 2005, and also volunteers for City West Water and rubbish pick-ups. She does the Run for the Kids and Relay for Life every year. “Vietnam is my motherland, but Australia is my home country. I’m proud to be part of it and proud that I can put my hands together with others to make it a better place for everyone.” Priscilla Moca
Raids bust drug gang
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than half a kilo of heroin, more than a kilo of ice and cocaine. Crime Command’s Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana said Operation Kanji had been targeting the distribution of commercial quantities of heroin, ice and cocaine, as well as large commercial quantities of cannabis, over the past four months. Mr Fontana said among the properties raided were cannabis ‘grow houses’, which have the capacity to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit each crop. “We now know this particular organisation
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is extremely well established and is involved in a range of commodities,” Mr Fontana said. “Our investigation started off looking into this particular group for trafficking heroin, and we established they are allegedly involved in cannabis, ice and cocaine. “Unfortunately, we have a high demand for these types of illicit drugs in Victoria,” he said. “We see every day the impact these drugs have on the people who use them, their families and the entire community, and it’s a terrible toll.”
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Drug taskforce detectives have smashed a significant organised crime syndicate after raids across Melbourne’s western and northern suburbs last week. As part of Operation Kanji, police last Friday seized more than $10.6 million worth of drugs and arrested nine people after executing 13 search warrants across residential and commercial properties at Sunshine West, Braybrook and Preston.
Sunshine West men Huyen Pham, Quang Dong and Duc Nguyen, Cairnlea residents Thanh Dinh and Jimmy Phan, and Braybrook man Loc Tran were later charged with various drug offences and fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Saturday. A 35-year-old Preston man was also charged with possessing a firearm, possessing a prohibited weapon and possessing methylamphetamine, and has been bailed to appear at court at a later date. Amongst the haul were 2800 cannabis plants, 25 kilograms of dried cannabis, more
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By Charlene Macaulay