Pubdate: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 Source: The Australian Website: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ Contact: COLLEEN EGAN POT LUCK FOR BRIDE CAUGHT IN DRUG NET A HUGE West Australian drug operation involving 400 law officials found not a skerrick of heroin yesterday, but did manage to catch in its wide net one of Australia's hottest young bands, Leonardo's Bride. Members of the group, which has had two hit singles and is on the brink of international recording deals, were detained at Perth domestic airport yesterday on suspicion of drug possession. Guitarist Dean Manning, 33, was charged with possession of a small amount of cannabis while the rest of the group were released. They were unlucky enough to arrive in the west on the third day of a huge joint exercise by State and federal police, customs officers and the National Crime Authority. The customs dogs which sniffed out Leonardo's Bride – considered the brightest future talent for Mushroom Records, which declined to comment yesterday – were outside their usual jurisdiction of the international airport. The fiveday "Operation Alliance" is using the combined skills and resources of the different agencies for spotchecks on all routes into the State through which heroin is carried. Along with musicians at the airport, the officers found amphetamines at truck stops, a bit of cannabis on the IndianPacific train and assorted smalltime crimes at shipping ports along the coast. They even found a Sydney woman, who had been on the missing persons' list for two years, in Kununurra, near the Northern Territory border in the State's far north. The first operation of its kind in Australia is about intelligencegathering, smalltime drug busting and a big dose of public relations, the management team admits. "We haven't found any heroin yet but that's not what it's all about," Acting Assistant Commissioner Graeme Lienert said. "It's a proactive strategy to let people know that if they traffic in drugs, they will be caught. "The intelligence on people moving around this big, wide country is being documented. In the new year, you'll see the real results." The management team was formed in response to a high number of heroinrelated deaths in Western Australia in the past two years.