Ten men charged over an alleged Morphett Vale clan lab have been hit with new charges
Ten men charged with financing and running one of the state’s largest clandestine meth labs using the AN0M app have been hit with new charges.
Police & Courts
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Ten men charged with running one of the states largest methamphetamine laboratories and organising it through the encrypted AN0M app have been hit with more charges.
On Friday, eight of the ten men crammed into the dock at the District Court to formally plead not guilty ahead of a trial scheduled for next year and estimated to run for three months.
However, between the Adelaide Magistrates Court and arraignment in the District Court the men have been charged with multiple counts of participation in a criminal organisation for the alleged complexity of the lab.
The men, whose names have been suppressed as many have other matters stemming from Operation Ironside, are all alleged to have had differing levels of involvement in the lab.
Two of the men are alleged to have been at the top of the hierarchy and to have directed and funded the establishment of the lab.
Another man is alleged to have been a drug cook while others either helped in the lab itself or worked as drivers to run errands for other members of the group.
When police raided the house in August 2020 they allegedly found a complex, industrial set up capable of making 120kg of methamphetamine per week and $4m of methamphetamine oil.
A revised charge information released by the District Court shows that all ten of the men are subject to at least one charge of participation in a criminal organisation by committing criminal offences for the benefit, or on the instructions of the organisation.
Some of the accused face as many as three charges of participation in a criminal organisation which has a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Ten months after the lab was dismantled, the encrypted AN0M app was shutdown and hundreds of arrests took place internationally.
The lab is alleged to have been in operation between May 9 and August 19, 2020.
As part of Operation Ironside thousands of messages allegedly linking the men to the lab were analysed and now form the heart of the criminal organisation charges.
Prosecutors have previously told the court that the Morphett Vale lab prosecution would be one of the most complicated trials to stem from Operation Ironside.
The trial of the ten accused is slated to begin in February next year.
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