Drug bust - lab making safrole and other goodies

[Torsten]

this happened in my area....

Two arrested and police uncover first ever clan lab used in manufacture of safrole oil precursor for MDMA

Thursday, 28 Jan 2010 04:19pm

Two men have been arrested today following a joint interagency operation at Byron Bay after police uncovered the first ever clandestine laboratory manufacturing safrole oil, used in the production of MDMA.

Strike Force Barsden comprises investigators from the State Crime Command’s Drug Squad, Tweed/Byron Local Area Command, and Queensland Police.

The Strike Force was established in June 2009 to investigate the supply of cocaine, as well as the manufacture of safrole oil, which can be used as a precursor in the production of MDMA.

Two men have been arrested by police today including a 23-year-old man at Bangalow and a 24-year-old man at Mullumbimby. Both men were taken to Byron Bay Police Station.

The 24-year-old was charged with possess tablet press, conspiracy to manufacture prohibited drug, and two counts of posses prohibited drug. He was refused bail to appear at Byron Bay Local Court on 29 January, 2010.

The 23-year-old man was charged with three counts of possess prohibited drug, possess pill press, and cultivate prohibited plant. He was granted conditional bail to appear in court at a later date.

Six search warrants were executed by police at locations including two premises on Bangalow Road at Byron Bay, Hakea Court at Mullumbimby, Pacific Highway at Bangalow, Byrrell Creek Road at Byrrell Creek, and Centennial Court at Byron Bay.

A clandestine laboratory was discovered by police at Bangalow. Investigations are ongoing and police remain at the scene. Evidence of manufacture was also uncovered at Byrrell Creek.

During the search warrants police located and seized a total of two pill presses, ecstasy tablets, LSD, cannabis, cocaine, steroids, precursors used in the manufacture of MDMA, as well as $4,000 cash.

Drug Squad Commander, Superintendent Nick Bingham, continues to warn the public about the dangers of illicit drug use.

“Drug use is dangerous. It is very difficult to know what you are consuming, and the effects can be fatal,” Det/Supt Nick Bingham said.

Edited January 30, 2010 by Chiral

[naja naja]

Good to see sum local inititive. Pity about the bust.

[Chiral]

sauce

LOUIS HUNT was still asleep yesterday morning as dozens of police officers from Task Force Barsden stormed his ‘friendly’ next-door neighbour’s house in Bangalow Road, Byron Bay.

With his bed only metres from their front door, Mr Hunt thought the police were coming through his house.

“It was pretty hectic,” the stunned teenager said.

“I heard all this banging and cops yelling they had a search warrant and I started tripping out.”

Mr Hunt described his neighbours as a big party household with people coming and going at all hours. Other than that, he hadn’t noticed any strange activity and was shocked to hear it might have been a drug lab.

“We couldn’t see much because they’d built a big wall, but they were really nice guys. They’d always warn us if they were having a party – and invite us,” he said.

Long-time Patterson Street residents Lorna and Mick Simpson overlook the raided house and were equally shocked to hear about the bust.

“I really don’t like drugs, but they seemed like good guys,” Mr Simpson said.

“They’ve been here about five years and had been renovating for a while.”

Mr Simpson said they had even helped him by fixing his solar water heater when it was leaking.

“They were really friendly to us all the time, but there were people coming in and out all the time, especially at night,” he said.

“I couldn’t count how many lived there, some stayed in the shed and under the house.

“At night time there were just cars, cars, cars.”

[reptyle]

http://www.northernstar.com.au/story/2010/01/30/mullum-man-in-custody/

May the light of the shining ones guide the mind of our brother...a universe of blessings shine through your heart.

[PhoenixSon]

man should be given a medal, mdma, rarity in the pill munching community, from what i hear. Not that most of them care what they are chewing.

[hebrew]

i am confused quite obviously

Edited January 30, 2010 by VelvetSiren

[reptyle]

ure confused?

[hebrew]

i hope so, its not hard for me to be confused

Point taken..... apologies

Edited January 30, 2010 by VelvetSiren

[Torsten]

velvetsiren, in situations like this the last thing someone who has been arrested is to have questionable or revealing forum associations highlighted.... a bit of ambiguity is probably the least required here.

[Chiral]

SAUCE

POLICE smashed the most sophisticated ecstasy manufacturing operation in Australia as it was about to swing into full production, sparing countless lives on the party circuit, investigators say.

Officers from the multi-agency Strike Force Barsden raided six Far North Coast properties yesterday morning, arresting two Byron Shire men and shutting down Australia’s first clandestine laboratory capable of producing the precursor chemicals needed to make MDMA, the active chemical in the drug ecstasy, at Byrrill Creek near Uki.

Two pill manufacturing machines, both capable of producing a staggering 6000 pills an hour, were seized from a Byron Bay storage shed.

Australian Customs alerted police to the machines.

Police also seized ecstasy tablets, LSD, cannabis, cocaine, steroids, safrole oil (the precursor to MDMA) and cash from residences in Bangalow Road, Byron Bay; Hakea Court, Mullumbimby; and the Pacific Highway, Bangalow.

Documents relating to the operation and the supply of cocaine to Far North Queensland were seized from another residence in Byron Bay.

The raids followed a seven-month multi-agency investigation into cocaine supply and safrole oil manufacture.

Strike Force Barsden was formed in June last year with the assistance of the Australian Crime Commission and comprises officers from the State Crime Command’s Drug Squad, Tweed-Byron Local Area Command and Queensland Police.

NSW Drug Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham said the sharing of information between agencies was the key to the operation’s success.

“We believe we’ve broken the back of a major MDMA manufacturing syndicate here in Byron Bay,” he said.

“That should alleviate some of the problems in relation to MDMA supply in and around the Byron Bay area.”

Task force officers arrested and charged a 23-year-old Bangalow man and a 24-year-old Mullumbimby man at Byron Bay police station with the possession of drugs and the pill presses.

The Mullumbimby man was also charged with conspiracy to manufacture a prohibited drug. He was refused bail and ordered to appear at Byron Bay Local Court today.

The Bangalow man was further charged with cultivating a prohibited plant and granted conditional bail to appear at Mullumbimby Local Court on February 11.

Queensland police assisting the strike force arrested Byron Bay man Steven Miljak last November for supplying 425 grams of cocaine in Cairns.

Police are still investigating and expect to make more arrests shortly.

Byron Shire mayor Jan Barham was shocked to hear of the raids and said it was always a real concern for any community to have its profile tainted by drugs or alcohol.

“My support is 100 per cent with the police for helping create a safer and healthier community,” she said.

[naja naja]

wow, most sophisticated ???

So a still now constitutes sophistication. Those old timers were sum clandestine MF's. Them with all their fandangled technology

[ThunderIdeal]

maybe i've got it all wrong here but isn't it absurd for the police to say that an mdma bust will spare countless lives on the party circuit? am i wrong in thinking that mdma rarely leads to serious complications?

now the community will be safer as more people will turn to alcohol, and healthier as more shit pills will be consumed. good one guys.

[Chiral]

There wouldn't even be a party circuit if there was no MDMA...

[rogdog]

maybe i've got it all wrong here but isn't it absurd for the police to say that an mdma bust will spare countless lives on the party circuit? am i wrong in thinking that mdma rarely leads to serious complications?

now the community will be safer as more people will turn to alcohol, and healthier as more shit pills will be consumed. good one guys.

 

That same line jumped out at me as wtf? Nevermind that more people die falling off horses than taking mdma

[mescalito]

They still don't get it do they?

Safrole's the safest way to make MDMA and people pop pills theses days regardless...duh!

Harm minimisation my arse!

@Chiral: There might be a generation overlap, but we used to party hard without MDMA, and man we had the best time with best friends...not wide eyed "I love you...who are you anyway...isn't everything nice maan!!?" types.

Glad to be out of that "circuit" personally.People just became greedy drug hoovers and one pill was never enough.I never saw my mates slip out the back and take a slug of top shelf whiskey,stash it, and come back to the party...they'd bust out the bottle and say "who's up for one!?"

MDMA's great but the magic does disappear...then there's the depression,apathy,paranoia....yet here(in this little town) I see they still keep chasing shit that they don't know the first thing about...like they can't function in a social situation without it.

Tis a shame either way

[faustus]

i don't care how clever a project is, the primary objective should always be to not get caught, and if you get caught then you can't be commended.

it would be interesting to hear about the intricasies of the case, how they ended up getting caught, etc.

[MindExpansion]

faustus it said in one of the articles that customs alerted police about the pill presses coming in, maybe that was a big part of it?

Peace

[FancyPants]

Hmm maybe they should've just stuck with charging $35 for caps. Don't bother dealing with risky suss pill presses.

[mu!]

Hmm maybe they should've just stuck with charging $35 for caps. Don't bother dealing with risky suss pill presses.

 

lol, i'd hate to be the poor cheap asian worker hired to divvy up a shitload of md into 100-150mg caps! a fate worse than death i say.

seriously though, who the fuck parties at the place of synthesis? judging by wat the article implied, you could only assume the synth was done there, yet the only tools of the trade they mention are a pill press. not exactly a staple piece of equipment in organic chem the term "clandestine laboratory" was thrown in for scary good measure, but wat constitutes a laboratory these days? pseudo in the pantry, acetone in the garage and a few cleaned out glass bottles of V8 juice...?

well, to the rest of you budding up-and-coming md makers out there (and i dearly hope you're out there, this country needs some quality stuff badly) dont shit in your own nest & play it safe!

Edited February 3, 2010 by mu.

[hutch]

and a few cleaned out glass bottles of V8 juice...?

 

I never thought of using the V8 juice bottles...

Thanks for that...

Hutch

[FancyPants]

lol, i'd hate to be the poor cheap asian worker hired to divvy up a shitload of md into 100-150mg caps! a fate worse than death i say.

 

Don't those cap-m-quick devices help with that problem? OK I'm sure there'd be a lot to go through, but if it meant avoiding customs being alerted wouldn't it be worth the extra time? I dunno though, I'm certainly no expert on the subject of manufacture.

[ThunderIdeal]

raw product is the way to go i reckon. maybe not for smuggling into clubs etc, but the little fishies can worry about that side of things.

yep.

don't know many people who'd prefer a pill/capsule over a bag.

[Chiral]

lol, i'd hate to be the poor cheap asian worker hired to divvy up a shitload of md into 100-150mg caps! a fate worse than death i say.

seriously though, who the fuck parties at the place of synthesis? judging by wat the article implied, you could only assume the synth was done there, yet the only tools of the trade they mention are a pill press. not exactly a staple piece of equipment in organic chem the term "clandestine laboratory" was thrown in for scary good measure, but wat constitutes a laboratory these days? pseudo in the pantry, acetone in the garage and a few cleaned out glass bottles of V8 juice...?

well, to the rest of you budding up-and-coming md makers out there (and i dearly hope you're out there, this country needs some quality stuff badly) dont shit in your own nest & play it safe!

 

Two pill manufacturing machines, both capable of producing a staggering 6000 pills an hour, were seized from a Byron Bay storage shed.

Australian Customs alerted police to the machines.

Police also seized ecstasy tablets, LSD, cannabis, cocaine, steroids, safrole oil (the precursor to MDMA) and cash from residences in Bangalow Road, Byron Bay; Hakea Court, Mullumbimby; and the Pacific Highway, Bangalow.

Documents relating to the operation and the supply of cocaine to Far North Queensland were seized from another residence in Byron Bay.

[tassiejd]

no more safrole from china or cambodia, i think we will see more of this in the coming years

[mu!]

Chiral, in my eyes "pill machine" does not equate to "laboratory capable of producing drug/precursor X"