Champion weightlifter charged in major Melbourne meth ring bust
A champion weightlifter with Olympic dreams is accused alongside a group of tradies in a major meth bust in Victoria.
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A champion Melbourne weightlifter is accused of being one of a group of tradies involved in a major meth manufacturing operation.
Andrew Edenborough, 41, has been charged over a ring police say was cooking the drug in a quiet industrial area at Tyabb, on the Mornington Peninsula.
They were arrested after a sweep of raids across Melbourne by clandestine laboratory squad detectives which uncovered a Chinese-made decarboxylation reactor at the Tyabb factory.
Those machines, which can be bought for about $30,000 can produce 100kg of methylamphetamine in each “cook”.
Rather than having to construct a lab using glassware and other chemical reaction equipment, such a reactor just needs chemicals put in at the correct levels and it will do the rest.
It is believed to have been the first machine of its type uncovered in Victoria.
Mr Edenborough, of Wheelers Hill, spent his teenage years dreaming of being an Olympian.
Weighing in at an imposing 105kg as an 18-year-old, he set his first age group national record, snatching 120.5kg in a competition at the Hawthorn Weightlifting Club.
Two months later, aged 19, he smashed national records for the under-20 age group.
He remained in the sport until missing out on a spot for the 2004 Athens Olympics, when, aged 25, he was ranked fourth in Australia.
Another of the four tradesmen charged is Tyabb man Aleksander Corera.
Mr Corera is a 25-year-old electrician who, along with two 31-year-old men from Ardeer and Hillside, was arrested when police made their move late last month.
They and Mr Edenborough are all charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine and will next face court on November 2.
Police will allege the tradies worked their legitimate jobs during the day and went to Tyabb to cook drugs at night.
Pre-dawn raids were carried out at two properties in Tyabb and others at Wheelers Hill, Ferny Creek, Hillside, Ardeer, Clayton and Sunshine West.
Investigators say seized a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine oil, a large commercial quantity of methyl alpha-phenyl acetoacetate (MAPA) and a large quantity of unidentified liquids still awaiting analysis.
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