Sydney, Nov 29 (IANS): Four gay Australian police officers won a discrimination lawsuit against the New South Wales police on Friday after they were investigated for drug use based on their sexual orientation.

The law enforcement officials, who all worked at the Newtown Police Station in central Sydney, had to undergo several drug tests over six months following a complaint by their boss, Simon Hardman, whom they accused of fostering a "homophobic culture" at the station, Efe news reported.

Hardman filed a complaint against the four men with the state police after a fifth officer, also gay and a friend of the plaintiffs, tested positive for drugs; the supervisor also accused them of conspiring to avoid detection by waxing their body hair.

In his report, Hardman said that the officials were "notorious for their promiscuity" and indulging in "indiscriminate sexual encounters" in which the use of drugs was considered "fundamental."

In its verdict, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal said that "each of the applicants has established that they have been subjected to unlawful discrimination" on grounds of their homosexuality.

The court concluded that the police owed the four officers an apology and compensation, the amount of which will be set next week.