Junior Qld. cop caught taking drugs in undercover sting

Peter Michael

UNDERCOVER police busted a young constable using ecstasy during a covert operation in a popular far-North party scene

In the latest scandal to embroil incoming Police Commissioner Ian Stewart, Ethical Standards Command ordered local detectives to run an internalal affairs investigation into the junior officer.

The top-level probe came after drug squad officers identified the constable buying and taking the party drug ecstasy with friends on social outings in Cairns.

The Brisbane-based drug squad operatives had been in the tropical north as part of a series of top-secret investigations into alleged drug trafficking syndicates operating from Melbourne to the Gold Coast to Cairns.

It is understood the police constable, the son of a highly respected 35-year veteran of the Queensland Police Service, was picked up by surveillance interacting with priority targets in the underworld sting. The Courier-Mail understands the policeman apologised for the shame, hurt and embarrassment he caused to the QPS, in particular his father, and has since resigned

The above story appeared in the "Courier Mail" on Wednesday, September 5, 2012, p.7