Ourimbah: Benjamin Strain 42, pleads not guilty to four charges on arraignment

A chemical scientist who has pleaded guilty to setting up a clandestine drug lab at Ourimbah will face a Judge alone trial next year after pleading not guilty to four further charges.

Ben Strain has pleaded not guilty to a further four charges after pleading guilty to 22 offences earlier this month. Picture: NSW Police

A chemical scientist who convinced his old boss to invest $100,000 into an experimental polymer but used his company’s laboratory to make MDMA and `ice’ instead will contest another four charges.

Appearing via video link Benjamin Strain, of Oyster Bay in Sydney’s south, was arraigned at Gosford District Court on Thursday on seven charges including two counts of manufacturing a commercial quantity of 1-phenyl-2-propanone, also known as P2P, which is a precursor used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Strain pleaded not guilty to the two charges along with one count each of supplying methamphetamine and cocaine.

The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to manufacturing an indictable quantity of MDMA and methamphetamine, and possessing a prohibited firearm.

Strain has previously pleaded guilty to 22 offences but not guilty to four further charges. Picture: NSW Police

His appearance came after Strain faced Wyong Local Court earlier this month where he pleaded guilty to 22 offences including manufacturing prohibited drugs, possessing precursor chemicals and scheduled items used for the manufacture of drugs, and weapons offences.

An agreed set of facts in those charges states Tuggerah Lakes Police were called to a rural property at 168 Pacific Highway, Ourimbah, at 3.45pm on September 8, 2020, following reports of gunshots being fired.

Police attended and found a laboratory inside a large green shed on the property.

Officers spoke to Strain who said he made “medical products here as we can’t work from the factory due to Covid”.

Strain was a chemical scientist who worked as a lab technician for a biotechnology start up in Sydney in 2017, before he was let go following a downturn.

Police discovered the lab at Ourimbah after reports of a shooting. Picture: NSW Police

The following year Strain approached the company’s founder about developing an experimental polymer that could be sold to the defence industry.

The company rented him a laboratory at Everleigh and supplied him with chemicals, before purchasing a rural property at Ourimbah where Strain moved into a bedroom and continued work on the polymer in a large shed converted into a lab.

Following the reported gunshots in September 2020 police searched the property and found various scientific equipment including round bottom reaction flasks, rotary evaporators and a distillation head.

Strain pleaded guilty to manufacturing MDMA and ice at the lab but not guilty to allegedly making commercial quantities of P2P.

He also pleaded not guilty to allegedly supplying amounts of MDMA and cocaine, which were seized at the property.

The court heard on Tuesday Strain’s trial was expected to take five-seven days but could be shorter if it was held before a judge alone, which the parties agreed to and it was adjourned until March 6.