Established in 1924 as the
proudly serving Brimbank and the North West
16 SEPTEMBER, 2025
Kangaroo great Anthony Stevens writes exclusively for Star Weekly 12790528-JD33-25
....SEE SPORT Funding boost a ‘great thing’ West Sunshine Greek senior citizens group (WSGSCG) has received a grant in the most recent round of the stronger communities program. WSGSCG vice president Sam David said the group felt elated to receive the funding. “It’s a great thing, a great help for the seniors. It will allow us to pay some of the expenses and also provide hot food for the people,“ Mr David said. Mr David said the grant will help to relieve financial strain for the club when purchasing new technology for its members, such as laptops, which seniors use to carry out administrative tasks. Outside of their meetings in West Sunshine, club members regularly travel to locations in regional Victoria, such as Ballarat, Castlemaine and Dandenong, to explore areas across the state. “Some of them haven’t been out for a long, long time, so this is fantastic,“ Mr David said. West Sunshine Greek senior citizens group president Sophia Pashalis and vice president Sam David. (Damjan Janevski) 499083_02
Drug bust arrests Three St Albans men and a Deer Park man were arrested after a large-scale clandestine drug laboratory was discovered in Shepparton during a national week of action targeting illicit drug and organised crime activity. On September 4, police executed a search warrant at a rural property in Toolamba, which was found to house a large sophisticated drug lab along with various chemicals and equipment including about 500kg of pre-cursor chemicals and large quantities of methylamphetamine and MDMA. A 30-year-old Deer Park man was
arrested and charged with a range of drug offences. A subsequent warrant was also executed at a Braybrook storage facility on September 5, with police locating further equipment and chemicals. A further three people from St Albans were arrested including a 40-year-old man, a 39-year-old man and a 38-year-old man. The trio were all charged with a range of drug offences and all four men have been remanded in custody to face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on March 4. The investigation was part of ‘Operation Vitreus’, a joint initiative between all
Australian state and territory police, Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre and New Zealand Police. This year’s week of action ran from September 1 to 5, with Victoria Police seizing drugs with a street value of $14 million across the state. Just over 70kg of various drugs including heroin, methylamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, cannabis and synthetic opioids were seized in Victoria, along with 550kg of various pre-cursor chemicals, 90 cannabis
plants and just over 23L of 1,4-butanediol, police said. Victoria Police arrested 194 people, issued 438 charges and executed 39 search warrants as part of the operation. Victoria Police organised crime division Detective Acting Superintendent Matt Volk said “As the cost of living has risen, we are not seeing the appetite for illicit drugs go down in any way. We know that Australians have consistently had a significant appetite for illicit drugs and as such, our willingness to pay a premium for them has made us an attractive market for serious and organised crime groups involved in the drug trade.”
Luba Grigorovitch YOUR LOCAL MEMBER OF
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