Police have uncovered potentially the biggest drug laboratory in Queensland after raiding three storage unit in Brisbane‘s north.
Queensland Police and the Australian Federal Police executed three search warrants at a National Storage complex in Rothwell at about 9am on Tuesday.
What officers found inside three storage units is likely to be the largest planned clandestine drug facility ever found in the state.
Police have uncovered potentially the biggest drug laboratory in Australian history after raiding three storage unit in Brisbane’s north capable of manufacturing a tonne of meth
The lab used two methods of making the drug, including the P2p method which is used for large-scale production, the same method used on ‘Breaking Bad’
More than 27kg of pure crystal meth was discovered at the warehouse, along with $1m worth of equipment and 900kg of benzyl methyl ketone (BMK), the precursor to the drug.
That quantity of BMK could create close to a tonne of meth worth approximately half a billion dollars.
AFP Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer said the amount of precursor material and the cost of the industrial scale lab equipment could only be put together by a well-established organised crime syndicate.
‘The sheer scale of this operation shows that the AFP and our partners have uncovered a highly sophisticated and well-funded organised crime operation,’ Detective Superintendent Telfer said.
‘The AFP is working with the QPS and other law enforcement partners to identify the criminals linked to this operation to prevent them profiting at the expense of our communities.’
The Courier Mail reported the lab used two methods of making the drug, including the P2p method which is used for large-scale production in America and Mexico and is the same method used on TV show Breaking Bad.
More than 27kg of pure crystal meth was discovered at the warehouse, along with $1m worth of equipment and 900kg of benzyl methyl ketone (BMK), the precursor to meth
The amount of precursor material and the cost of the industrial scale lab equipment could only be put together by a well-established organised crime syndicate
Detective Massingham is concerned about what the scale of the drug facilities mean for meth production in Australia
The method is known to create a more potent product.
A 38-year-old Albion man and a 44-year-old Bracken Ridge man have been arrested and are expected to be charged at a later date.
Police believe that the lab is connected to a similar facility in Pinkenba in Brisbane raided in June where $5.5m in crystal meth and $500,000 cash was seized.
Similarly, the meth seized was almost ‘chemist’ grade, a level of purity never seen cooked in Queensland.
‘What I’m concerned about is that we are turning the page into a darker chapter than we have seen previously,
‘We have always had the scourge of meth, but this highly pure crystal form of the drug has primarily been imported,’ Brisbane Regional Crime Coordinator Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham told the Courier Mail at the time.
A 38-year-old Albion man was charged with 12 offences related to the raids, including trafficking dangerous drugs.
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