Police took this aerial shot of the Safari Place premises during the raid.
Camera IconPolice took this aerial shot of the Safari Place premises during the raid. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

‘Give us our phones back’

Claire Ottaviano, Wanneroo TimesNorth Coast Times

CARABOODA’S Le brothers say they are working to get their mobile phones and computers back from the police so they can continue to run the business.

Michael Le said he had engaged lawyers to help retrieve the items taken on May 3, which he believed by law had to be returned within a fortnight.

“We’ve let a lot of staff go on annual leave because right now we don’t have our computers back, they seized all our property… today’s the 22nd,” he said.

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“By law, in the Crime Act it says ‘the thing may be moved to another place for examination or processing for no longer than 14 days’,” he said. “And if they can’t give it back they need to make a copy so it doesn’t affect our business.

“Right now we don’t know who owes us or how much we owe to other people… it’s affecting us in the fact we’re trying to keep everyone happy.”

WA Police media liaison officer Samuel Dinnison said the “collection and management of seized items is undertaken as per legislative requirements”.

“Should a person have any concerns over the management of items they have had seized from them, their legal representative can discuss those concerns with the investigators or the courts,” he said.

Mr Le said the six-month tomato season was drawing to an end and the business was able to run manually.

“We’re towards the tail end,” he said. “We don’t have our documents, our computers, our phones, our contact lists, everything, so we’re still packing but we’re doing everything manually.”

Mr Le said he was not seeking personal support from others. “This is the problem that we have, or the problem the Government has with us, and we’ll tackle this by ourselves.”