Glenroy dad Christopher Maney converted shipping container into underground meth lab
A Glenroy dad converted a buried shipping container into a clandestine drug lab to make some quick cash but there was only one problem … he didn’t know how to cook meth.
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An amateur drug cook who converted a shipping container into a clandestine meth lab buried beneath a trailer at a rural property has been jailed.
Christopher Maney, 34, was sentenced in the County Court on April 8 to 16 months’ jail after pleading guilty to drug trafficking.
Maney was arrested at his Glenroy home on September 17, 2017 where police seized phones, computers and other evidence including instructions on how to cook meth.
Police had earlier discovered a shipping container converted into a clandestine meth connected to a trailer at a rural Victorian property linked to Maney.
Investigators seized 31g of pure meth, a semiautomatic handgun, “scientific” glassware and apparatuses, chemicals and a pill press.
Maney had built a “sophisticated and premeditated” clandestine lab but his efforts to manufacture meth were “amateurish”, the court heard.
The court heard Maney, who had battled drug use most of his adult life, had experienced emotional stress after fathering three children with three different women in “rapid succession”.
The Harley Davison-riding furniture maker also experienced financial issues before plotting his meth operation.
In February, Maney was sentenced to 189 days’s jail – time served – after he was caught with drug-making equipment in May 2019.
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Judge Michael Cahill said Maney’s “clan-lab set-up” involved “investment and planning”. “While I cannot know the precise quantity of drugs manufactured, or that might be manufactured, you possessed a set-up of some scale and sophistication,” Judge Cahill said.
“The compelling inference is that you were in possession of the equipment for the manufacture of drugs to be supplied or sold to others.”
Maney – who also pleaded guilty to possession of materials and equipment for trafficking – will commence a two-year community correction order when released.
He had spent 157 days in custody at the time of sentencing.