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Music

Melbourne Police Purchased $67K Worth of Drugs at a Nightclub Before Raiding It

Both the Railway Hotel and Two Floors Up were raided in separate investigations.
Photo via Yelp

Two Melbourne nighclubs were raided by police last month on suspicion that they were involved sale of drugs. However, new details have emerged regarding the police investigation one of the raids in particular.

According to the Herald Sun, undercover agents supposedly spent more than $67,000 purchasing drugs from the Rail Hotel over the course of 13 separate visits spanning three months from last December. Melboune Magistrate Peter Reardon, the judge in charge of the case, was reportedly confused as to why undercover police made so many separate visits before the raid was conducted.

Police claim that the Railway Hotel manager Chris Lytras, 47, and "concierge" Paul Polito, 37, had such a large drug business that even the undercover police were forced to line up to purchase cocaine and metamphetamines and ecstasy stamped with a "VW" logo. Some of the drugs were reportedly pure, while others came back with a while others had been heavily diluted with a cutting agent.

Lytras remains behind bars while Polito was freed on bail.

In a separate investigation, according to Tonedeaf, the venue Two Floors Up was raided for similar charges of drug trafficking, where police discovered "several thousand ecstasy pills" in its possession. It's co-owner DJ Jason Kolbeck is being held behind bars and has been denied bail.

Both venues remain open despite the raids.