High risk drug lab in Alice suburb

7
1717

p2165-Drug-Lab-AlicePolice say they have uncovered in a suburb of Alice Springs the Territory’s biggest clandestine laboratory for the production illicit drugs.
 
Detective Superintendent Tony Fuller from the Drug and Organised Crime Squad said just after 6 pm yesterday detectives from the Darwin Illicit Drug Lab Team, assisted by the Alice Springs Tactical Investigation Unit, executed a search warrant at a Larapinta Drive property.
 
“On entry police located a functioning illicit drug laboratory in a section of the residence. The scene was secured and additional emergency services were called to assist,” says Supt Fuller.
 
”Police also located a commercial quantity of a suspected schedule two substance, drug precursors, a considerable amount of drug manufacturing glassware and firearms.
 
“A 29-year-old male was arrested and is currently assisting police with investigations.
 
“It is concerning that this has all occurred in a suburban residential address.
 
“The method used by this backyard chemist is known to have substantial risks of fire, explosion or producing harmful and potentially fatal fumes.
 
“Investigations are ongoing and no further information will be provided at this time.”
PHOTO courtesy police.
 
 

7 COMMENTS

  1. It’s all THIS CLOSE to home, folks. Never underestimate the width and depth these criminals will go to to endanger our community. Lengthy gaol time required for all those associated.

  2. It will be interesting to learn if this is a production lab for methamphetamine. Given Professor Marcia Langton’s claim that ice is a concern in remote communities and Alison Anderson’s counter-claim, I look forward to confirmation of the substance.

  3. A lot of drug nuts have always been pretty dumb, but it strikes me as dumber than the norm for a manufacturer of illicit substances to set up his factory in a suburban house and not expect that passers-by and neighbours will smell the telltale fumes.

  4. To be fair, they must have had some skills. Okay, maybe not a degree in chemistry, but some knowledge.
    If they were as big as the news is saying, they would have self destructed by now.
    Still, real criminals use vans to move their labs around in.

  5. With drug precursors and a considerable amount of drug manufacturing glassware apparently being seized, it’s hard to imagine any drug other than methamphetamine being the end product.
    I don’t know about locally, but reports from Broome indicate that ice is destroying communities, families and lives over there. And all this before this year’s bumper crop of opium / heroin comes in from Afghanistan and hits the streets.
    Once again we see the short sightedness of our drug laws. Perhaps in the best of all worlds drugs would not be desired, but that world only exists in our dreams.
    Bush weed is the answer. Not that hydroponic stuff, but good old bush weed. Around the world this is being recognised. Why can’t we learn?

  6. Credit to policing authorities for this arrest. What is of interest is the regional / remote spread of ice.
    Two years ago, the CEO of Wayside Chapel said: “Kings Cross is something of a trendsetter for the rest of the country. If that is true, then the ‘drug problems’ we’ve faced for the past 20 years will be nothing compared to the problems that are coming. With methamphetamines replacing heroin use, the incidence of psychosis and antisocial behaviour will soon be something that makes us all look back fondly to the time when heroin was our main drug of choice. I wish this wasn’t true, but I really believe that there are difficult days ahead for us all.”
    Not being familiar with Schedule 2 substance, I await police confirmation in this case.
    @ Hal. Are you advocating the use of pituri or marijuana as an “answer”? Where, around the world do you refer and in what circumstances? Mexico?

  7. @ Russell
    Recreational use of pot is now accepted as part of our world in much of the US. From Wikipedia – Illegal at the federal level but legal at the state level in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, DC and the city of Portland, Maine; decriminalized in 14 states, medicinal legal in 20 states and Guam.
    If not legal, pot is at least decriminalized and private use tolerated in many other countries including Switzerland, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Peru, Pakistan, Netherlands and, as you mentioned, Mexico. Also in Italy, Denmark, Canada and some others.
    I am not advocating the use of pituri or marijuana (since when are those two counted as one?) as an “answer”. I am advocating marijuana as a far less destructive drug of choice than either ice or heroin for those who still use drugs of choice other than alcohol.
    Ice may be the white powder mainly in use in Australia, but a bumper crop of heroin has been reported in Afghanistan this year and some of that may find its way down under. For what it’s worth, I, like the CEO of Wayside Chapel, also believe that heroin is far less destructive that meth.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here