Three men arrested over massive methamphetamine ‘super lab’ Croydon, in Adelaide’s inner west
A SUBURBAN “super lab” capable of producing hundreds of millions of dollars of methamphetamine has been shut down by police just as it was being expanded.
A SUBURBAN “super lab”capable of producing hundreds of millions of dollars of methamphetamine has been shut down by South Australian police just as it was being expanded.
Officers seized hundreds of kilograms of precursor chemicals, powders and acids as well as industrial-scale laboratory equipment.
To dismantle the lab, police will need to use forklifts and trucks to remove the commercial equipment and chemicals.
Officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Branch, supported by STAR Group officers, raided the Scotia St, Croydon, house on Sunday.
Troy Alviti, 46, and a 24-year-old woman, both from Croydon, were arrested at the house along with Mark Middleton, 57, from Killarney Vale in New South Wales.
All three were charged with manufacturing and trafficking a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine.
Middleton was remanded in custody until next year while Alviti will reappear in court later this week.
Police are also searching for another man related to the industrial-scale operation.
Residents in the quiet street were stunned by the raid.
“It’s a pretty quite street, I was very surprised,” one neighbour, who didn’t want to give his name said.
Detective Superintendent Mark Trenwith said the seizure was one of the largest in the state’s history and involved an unprecedented scale of commercial production.
“This lab is one of the largest found in South Australian history and we believe it has been up and running for some time,” Mr Trenwith said. “A number of other houses have been searched as part of this operation and inquiries will be continuing both in this state and elsewhere.
“We expect further arrests to be made in this matter. We believe the operation was a pseudoephedrine processing clandestine lab. Hundreds of kilo of pseudoephedrine powder were found at the lab.
“Also at the residence were large quantities of other precursor chemicals such as acids and iodine. We don’t know how much meth is at the site and we won’t know that until it has been forensically tested.”
Mr Trenwith said that while investigators were looking into bikie links to the drug lab, none of the three people arrested were members of outlaw motorcycle gangs.
“In addition to the operating clan lab, more construction was under way at the site to build more large-scale plant equipment,” Mr Trenwith said.
Police will work with forensic services and local environmental agencies to dismantle the lab and safely remove the potentially toxic and explosive chemicals.
It comes just weeks after another methamphetamine manufacturer was discovered in Morphett Vale in Adelaide’s south.
Specialist members from the Serious and Organised Crime Branch, assisted by STAR Group officers, stormed a home on Marston Dr on October 7.
Inside the house — located less than 900m from a primary school — officers discovered one of the biggest clandestine laboratories in South Australian history.
They found 11kg of methamphetamine — better known in Australia as ice — worth $5.5m.
Police also confiscated about 120 kilograms of powder.
A 36-year-old Seaview Downs man and a 40-year-old man travelling to Australia on a US passport have been charged with manufacturing a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug, namely methamphetamine.
Asked about links between the two labs, Mr Trenwith said two separate syndicates were responsible.