Ourimbah: Chemical scientist Benjamin Strain, 42, pleads guilty to making MDMA, meth

A chemical scientist who convinced his old boss to invest $100,000 into an experimental polymer used the company’s laboratory to make MDMA and `ice’, a court has heard

The lab was fitted out with a lot of scientific equipment. Picture: NSW Police

A chemical scientist has pleaded guilty to manufacturing MDMA and methylamphetamine from a laboratory housed in a backyard shed on a rural property at Ourimbah.

Appearing via video link Benjamin Strain, 42, of Oyster Bay in Sydney’s south, faced Wyong Local Court on Tuesday 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.

He pleaded not guilty to a further six offences including supplying prohibited drugs, manufacturing a commercial quantity of drugs and goods in custody.

He will be arraigned on those counts in Gosford District Court on November 24 and will face trial at a future date.

Police discovered the lab at Ourimbah was being used to make drugs. Picture: NSW Police

His arrest came after 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”.

An agreed set of facts states Strain was a chemical scientist who worked as a lab technician for Mamprotech, a biotechnology start up in Sydney in 2017, before he was let go following a downturn.

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

Dr Trang agreed and rented him a laboratory space at Everleigh and supplied him with chemicals, which Dr Tang was unfamiliar with but nonetheless purchased them for Strain “in good faith”.

Dr Tang purchased the equipment and chemicals “in good faith”. Picture: NSW Police

Dr Tang did not have any knowledge Strain was using equipment and chemicals he purchased legitimately to make illicit drugs.

Towards the end of 2019 the facts state there was an issue at the Everleigh lab where nearby labs had to be evacuated because of a smell produced by a chemical reaction created by Strain. Production of the polymer ceased.

There were a lot of chemicals found at the Ourmbah lab. Picture: NSW Police

Strange science — police discovered the lab was making more than just an experimental polymer. Picture: NSW Police

In January 2020 Dr Trang went into partnership with several others to purchase the 16ha property at Ourimbah, which Strain suggested converting the shed into a lab to continue the exploratory work.

The facts state Strain moved into a bedroom on the property and acted as a caretaker while continuing to work on developing the polymer.

“In about August 2020 Dr Trang visited the property and observed that the lab has expanded significantly in addition to the lab equipment and chemicals that he had provided,” the facts state.

“Dr Trang invested approximately $100,000 into the polymer venture however he received no profit.”

When police attended in September 2020 they found a small amount of methylamphetamine and an ice pipe in Strain’s bedroom, an air pistol, rifle ammunition and an unregistered rifle.

He told police the air pistol was a “toy” and that he had the rifle and ammunition for 20 years but knew it was unregistered.

Analysis of the lab found it had been used to produce indictable quantities of MDMA and methylamphetamine, along with the presence of precursor chemicals and scheduled items 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 one count of manufacturing not less than a “large commercial quantity” of the drugs and a backup charge of manufacturing not less than a “commercial quantity”.