Acid lab bust - St Martin - Netherlands Antilles

[woof woof woof]

http://www.thedailyherald.com/news/daily/i...i93/drug93.html

Authorities shut down

US $15M LSD factory

PHILIPSBURG--Authorities shut down yesterday what they believe to be a multimillion-dollar laboratory being used for the production of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) at #15 Cannegieter Street in the heart of Philipsburg.

Authorities found 250 grams of “Ergo Christine” which chemists from a forensic laboratory in Holland say is used to make the drug LSD, the most potent hallucinogen known to science. They also confirmed the arrest of two American nationals. The “Ergo Christine” found is the largest amount ever found within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and can make an estimated one million doses of LSD, each selling for as much as US $15 in the United States. This means that the product found there could be used to produce LSD that would have a street value in the USA of up to US $15 million.

Six organisations within the Kingdom were involved in the exercise that saw a section of Cannegieter Street being blocked off from early Thursday as security, justice and health officials set up their operations camp in a parking lot adjacent to the house at #15.

Prosecutor coordinating the investigation Johan de Vrieze gave the initials of the two men detained as V. and D.D.S. and said they were being held “a few days now.”

A special team from Secure Dismantling of Synthetic Drugs Production Sites LFO (Landelijke Faciliteit Ondersteuning Ontmantelen) was flown in from Holland to search the house at #15 and removed more than US $10,000 in chemical equipment and a quantity of Ergo Christine worth around US $3,000.

The investigation has been in progress for some time. However, public suspicions mounted quickly on Monday, prompting widespread speculation about why the authorities were taking special interest in house #15.

De Vrieze said authorities had received information from Europe that persons in St. Maarten were trying to purchase the special chemical from a factory in Czechoslovakia. He said that following a series of investigations they had found a house on which they kept an eye and through a telephone conversation of a local businessman they had learnt that the suspects were conducting an operation.

He said the precautions taken to guard the building had been to prevent anyone from entering, as the ingredients used to manufacture LSD are considered very dangerous, “The chemicals could have been toxic and we had to shut off the house and bring in the experts,” said De Vrieze.

He said that while they were confident they had uncovered an LSD lab, they still weren’t certain of all the chemicals that were inside the house. He said a call had been made on Monday to bring in the experts, who arrived on Tuesday evening. Wednesday night’s exercise with the use of an ultraviolet lamp to perform a “quick scan” was to determine whether there were loose traces of the chemical in the house.

The chemicals used to manufacture this drug are said to be very toxic and can cause severe skin damage. He said that once inside, the experts had been able to conclude that there was no item that had explosive potential.

De Vrieze said a Mr. Martina had to be flown in from Curaçao as a representative of the Netherlands Antilles Health Department, as the drug ordinance dictates that the authorities must inform the Health Department of any such activities. He said the local health department had also been involved and St. Maarten Medical Center had been made aware of the potential dangers that could arise if the harmful chemicals came into contact with a person’s skin.

A “small quantity of money” was found and confiscated during the house search. Gorrir van den Berg, a forensic chemist from Holland, said, “We saw a lot of chemicals, a lot of (glass) tubes and a number of items that can be used to make LSD.”

According to information on a USA Drug Enforcement Agency website, LSD is usually sold in the form of impregnated paper (blotter acid), typically imprinted with colourful graphic designs. It has also been encountered in tablets (microdots), thin squares of gelatine (window panes) and in sugar cubes but, rarely in liquid form.

Other literature indicates that LSD-impregnated paper is often disguised to look like photographs that are divided into postage stamp-size pieces, each piece costing around US $15.

According to De Vrieze, experts will be busy over the next day or two inspecting the entire house to determine if there is any contamination. They have already moved the furniture out of the property and it was hosed down by fire fighters before being packed in the parking lot of Ace Lite Line.

De Vrieze said everything removed from the house had to be documented. When asked about the use of the many fire trucks, he said one was used to store water that had to be readily available in case someone was cut and their wound was exposed to the chemical. Another was used as an office to plan a course of action and discuss findings, and the third was used mainly to transport the Fire Department’s container of equipment.

He said, “I can assure you that there is nothing explosive taking place here.”

St Maarten Apartment for vacation rental

[Torsten]

you can tell the journalist has really done his research. WTF is "Ergo Christine"?

I am sure he means the alkaloid ergocristine

[woof woof woof]

yeh yeh - I noticed that too. Heh,... ohhhh welll........ what can we say........ h heheh

[Torsten]

Prosecutor confirms LSD lab linked to US

PHILIPSBURG--The Prosecutor’s Office in St. Maarten has confirmed that the two American suspects detained at the end of August in connection with the manufacture of the hallucinogenic drug LSD had direct ties to at least one person in the United States who was detained December 2004, and said the US Government had requested their extradition for trial in the United States.

The two suspects J.V. and D.S. of the United States will likely be extradited to the USA shortly to stand trial.

Prosecutor Johan De Vrieze said Thursday, “After weeks of investigation we found a lot of clues, information and paperwork that have been checked out and confirm the link between the two suspects and several items shipped from the United States, some from Canada and some from the French side.”

He said the suspects had formed a local company “Micro Tech” and used it to ship 1,000 postage stamp-size strips of paper soaked in LSD, which landed the third suspect in the United States in prison in 2004.

De Vrieze said that after conducting further tests they had discovered that a bottle removed from the house contained an extremely high concentration of LSD. He said it had been disguised by the suspects to prevent detection.

While authorities had originally believed they were dealing with one building on Cannegieter Street in Philipsburg, investigations showed that the two suspects had been operating out of a house in St. Peters before moving to Cannegieter Street #15.

The LSD lab was destroyed after it was detected based on a high profile investigation conducted by the RST Dutch Detectives, the Prosecutor’s Office and the local police. For several days the building opposite Lite Line Electronics was cordoned off while expert chemists from the Forensics Lab in Holland combed it to find evidence of the drugs.

The first report since the completion of the search was that around US $15 million worth of the drugs had been confiscated. The additional amount uncovered after further tests showed that the total street value of the drugs confiscated was nearly twice that amount.

De Vrieze said they had proof that the suspects were not only manufacturing the drug in St. Maarten, but shipping it to the United States, which appears to have been their primary target market.

He said their extradition to the United States for trial could take nine months while they wait it out in the Pointe Blanche prison. He also noted that the sentence in the US for LSD started at a minimum of 20 years and could be as long as life imprisonment, while in St. Maarten they would probably have been given a shorter jail term.

All evidence found in St. Maarten will be handed over to the US authorities for their case against the suspects, when the extradition process is completed, De Vrieze said.

He said extradition to the US for trial would show US citizens that they could still be punished in the United States for crimes committed elsewhere, which he views as a deterrent for others who might have similar ideas

[AndyAmine.]

A minimum of 20yrs imprisonment!!! Hoolydooly!!!

[Rev]

will this impact acid availability here?

anyone have any idea how all that works?

i hope it doesnt run dry for NYE

[simon_marklar]

will this impact acid availability here?

anyone have any idea how all that works?

i hope it doesnt run dry for NYE

theres only been a few different types of acid in sydney for the last little while, most of it liquid. i'd say it already has effected supply.

disclaimer: i have no idea how the acid trade works, i'm just commenting on what i have seen.

[psynergy]

ouch..hate to see news like this. hope it doesn't effect australias supply

[naja naja]

ouch..hate to see news like this. hope it doesn't effect australias supply

What supply!?