Chris Perdulovsky and Louie Hawach: Bathurst drug cooks sentenced
The downfall of two men, who previously held respectable jobs before becoming ecstasy chefs, has been revealed as details expose the inner workings of how they operated in a 24kg MDA cook-up outside Bathurst.
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Drug cooks operating out of a rural house used notes from a manual titled “A complete MDA synthesis for first time chemists” and referred to the ecstasy manufacturing process as “going fishing”, “tiling” or “concreting”, a court has heard.
Two of the MDA cooks, Chris Perdulovsky, 46, and Louie Hawach, 53, were imprisoned on Monday for their ‘replaceable but important’ mid-level roles in the Bathurst drug enterprise, which manufactured 24kg of 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA).
MDA is a lesser known form of ecstasy.
Before they entered the drug world, Perdulovsky, from the Hunter Valley, owned a concreting business for some time and was also a light plane instructor, while Hawach, from Granville, worked in sales and owned a struggling chicken shop, the court heard.
The 2018 police operation nabbed six men, with the syndicate’s head honcho still “on the run”, fleeing the country before he could be arrested, the court heard.
The manufacturing group ran their operation from November 2017 to March 2018.
The raw chemicals were stored in an apartment in Wetherill Park and two neighbouring properties in Mount Rankin, and employees of the group including Perdulovsky and Hawach would then transport barrels of chemicals to “the warehouse” in Neville to begin the manufacturing process.
The syndicate partook in the entire manufacturing process, which included obtaining raw chemicals, such as Sassafras oil, formic acid, aqua ammonia and methanol, making precursor chemicals, “growing crystals”, blending the crystals into powder, and pressing the pills.
The cooks wore respirators and chemical gloves while in the Neville drug den.
Hawach was recorded in the Neville drug lab frequently between November 2017 and March 2018, mixing containers of chemicals, decanting chemicals into flasks, drying out the chemicals, and was recorded discussing the process with his co-workers.
He once told a colleague that it was important they speak because “a different solution might make the process a bit quicker”.
Perdulovsky was primarily present at the end of the manufacturing process and pressed the pills, which required “some expertise”, the court heard.
He was “trusted and competent enough to deal with the ultimate product”, the court heard.
Perdulovsky was caught “red-handed” at the Neville property on March 22, 2018, his fingerprints found on a printed-out manual titled “A complete MDA synthesis for first time chemists”, while Hawach was arrested at home.
At Perdulovsky’s Fletcher home, near Newcastle, police found 1.26kg of MDA in tablet and powder form, produced in the Neville drug lab, 41.13g of cocaine and $24,195 in the proceeds of crime, all in a bedroom safe.
Both Perdulovsky and Hawach pleaded guilty to participating in a criminal group and manufacturing 24kg of MDA.
Perdulovsky was sentenced to seven years and five months in prison, with a non-parole period of five years, while Hawach was sentenced to seven years in prison with four years and six months non-parole.