Episode 1: Who is Poona Paul?

Saddle up and meet the men and women of the fabled Queensland Police Service Rural and Stock Crime Squad. This legendary unit was formed in 1959 as the Queensland Stock Investigation Squad, pivoting through the years to the Stock and Rural Crime Investigation Squad then to the Major Organised Crime Squad Rural. Whatever its name, the squad’s core function has remained steady through the decades from when it was run out of the Criminal Investigation Branch in Brisbane with just a Detective Sergeant and three plainclothes officers on board. Officers with some rural experience and who knew their way around a horse were preferred. Today the Rural and Stock Crime Squad has teams across Queensland, including in Roma, Charleville, Longreach, Charters Towers and Mareeba. Two detective senior sergeants – based respectively in Toowoomba and Rockhampton - coordinate the Southern and Northern regions. The work of the squad, too, has gone way beyond just nabbing cattle duffers and sheep thieves. Not only does its extensive remit include drug offences, fraud, firearms theft, and wildlife and horse racing offences, but its work may cross state and international borders. The Queensland Police Service acknowledges all members, including those attached to the Crime and Intelligence Command, who contributed in some way to Breakthrough and their ongoing efforts to prevent, disrupt, respond and investigate serious crime. The QPS is also grateful to rural communities across all corners of Queensland – whose support is critical to our mission to make Queensland the Safest State and especially so when living and working in remote and isolated areas. This episode was produced on the lands of the Toowoomba Jagera, Giabal and Jarowairm peoples. Special thanks also to the members who have assisted with the production of this podcast episode: • Assistant Commissioner Katherine Innes APM • Assistant Commissioner Brian Connors APM • Detective Inspector Melissa Anderson BM APM • Det Sgt Glenn Evans (Case Officer) – Toowoomba RSCS • Det Snr Sgt Jim Lacey – Southern Coordinator. • Detective Senior Constable Chris Hurtz • Sarah Trinne and the team at Queensland Police Service Media. Breakthrough is co-produced by Moo Media and the Queensland Police Service. Writer and host: Matthew Condon. Producer: Kate Morris. Audio production: Tepid Leopard Audio. LINKS: Qld Crime Stoppers: ⁠Crime Stoppers Queensland | Make a Report Today (crimestoppersqld.com.au)⁠ © Queensland Police Service 2025

In this episode, we continue our deep dive into the murky world of the Dark Net, an online haven for drug dealers, gun merchants and other nefarious criminal activities. Come inside Operation Oscar Fetters, as the Synthetic Drugs Operations Unit and other crack teams within the QPS Crime and Intelligence Command take down a multi-million-dollar drug operation, nabbing the mastermind only to have him go on the run, sparking a nationwide manhunt. And we’ll reveal the critical importance of Crimestoppers as a reporting tool and how it helped bring down the empire of this internet drug kingpin on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

In this episode, we take you behind the façade of respectable Australian suburbia and into the murky world of the Dark Net, an online haven for drug dealers, gun merchants and other nefarious criminal activities. Come inside Operation Oscar Fetters, as the Synthetic Drugs Operations Unit and other cracks teams within the QPS Crime and Intelligence Command take down a multi-million-dollar drug operation, nabbing the culprit only to have him go on the run, sparking a nationwide manhunt. And we’ll reveal the critical importance of Crimestoppers as a reporting tool and how it helped bring down the empire of this internet drug kingpin on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

For eight years one of Queensland’s worst serial sex offenders prowls the suburbs of south-east Queensland, casing granny flats and townhouses, attacking women then disappearing under cover of darkness. He becomes known as the Night Stalker. He targets women alone in their homes and attempts to hide his identity by wearing hoodies and gloves. In one case he even steals his victim’s mobile phone, delaying her call for help. But when police link multiple attacks to the same offender through DNA, the QPS launches Operation Oscar Melya, a massive multi-unit investigation, to bring down this monster.

A lonely Brisbane woman decides to try and meet the love of her life online and hooks up with a young and attractive member of the U.S. military, based in the Middle East. But all is not as it seems. Before she knows it, Wendy Smith has been trapped in a well-organised romance scam and loses a fortune to cyber-criminals. But she soon turns the tables on them with the help of QPS cyber experts who set up a tricky string and manage to pull off a remarkable arrest.