Jack Williams charged after Strike Force Culti raids Springrange property as part of drug manufacturing investigation

A young man allegedly intended to use dozens of kilograms of precursor to manufacture methamphetamine in a rural area just outside Canberra. Here are the details.

A young man allegedly intended to use dozens of kilograms of precursor to manufacture methamphetamine in a rural area just outside Canberra, where he is also accused of helping store, supply and distribute chemicals for the production of MDMA.

Jack Williams, 23, was arrested at his ACT home on Tuesday and extradited to NSW by strike force detectives investigating illicit drug manufacturing on Australia’s east coast.

Williams was later granted bail without opposition when he faced Queanbeyan Local Court, charged with two counts of possessing a precursor for use in the manufacture or production of a prohibited drug and one count of participating in a criminal group. He is yet to enter pleas.

Police allege he possessed 35kg of BMK glycidic acid and 3kg of sodium borohydride in April, intending that they be used in the production of methamphetamine.

Williams is further accused of participating, between April and July, in a criminal group to store, supply and distribute precursor chemicals used for the manufacture of MDMA.

Police arrest Jack Williams at his ACT home on Tuesday. Picture: NSW Police

The offences are all alleged to have been committed at Springrange, a rural area near Yass, where investigators raided a home and a large shed about 6am on Tuesday.

Police seized clothing and handwritten notes, while also taking soil samples and chemical swabs.

Police raid a property in Springrange, near Yass, as part of a multi-agency investigation into drug manufacturing. Picture: NSW Police

These will be forensically tested, as will a mobile phone and keys seized when Williams was arrested in his home in the Canberra suburb of Lyons later that morning.

Williams’ arrest is the sixth made by detectives working under Strike Force Culti, which involves the NSW State Crime Command’s Raptor Squad, Lake Illawarra Police District, NSW Crime Commission, Australian Border Force and Queensland Police Service.

The ongoing investigation also resulted in investigators executing a criminal assets recovery search warrant at a home in Albion Park, south of Wollongong, last Thursday morning.

During the search, officers seized electronic devices, documentation and a 2022 Tesla model Y suspected to be the proceeds of crime.

NSW Police seize a Tesla model Y, which is suspected to be the proceeds of crime, in Albion Park. Picture: NSW Police

The multi-agency probe had previously led to the arrests of five other men, who were charged last month after police executed 10 search warrants in the Lake Illawarra and Tweed Heads regions.

During those searches, police claim to have seized more $3 million worth of MDMA and found “a large clandestine laboratory” in a home at Kingscliff on the NSW north coast.

Williams must not contact the other men, who remain before the courts, as a condition of his bail.

He has also been ordered to live in Lyons, report to Queanbeyan Police Station twice per week, surrender his passport and not approach an international point of departure.

Williams’ bail conditions also ban him from possessing more than one mobile phone, and require him to provide that device’s details to the police officer in charge of his case.

He is due back in court in August.