Drug chemicals smuggled by bikies, crime gangs as Victorian meth labs rise

Meth labs have exploded across the state as organised crime gangs unite to smuggle in huge shipments in disguised chemicals — and police are alarmed.

Victoria Police’s Clandestine Laboratory Squad has uncovered a raft of sophisticated and dangerous meth labs across the state. Picture: Victoria Police

The capacity of Victorian meth labs is surging as organised crime gangs disguise the structure of drug-manufacturing chemicals to sneak huge shipments into Australia.

Victoria Police has found an increasing trend towards the use of what are known as masked precursors by high-end syndicates which are smuggling tonnes of the contraband.

The ingredients – vital for the large-scale production of drugs like methamphetamine – are chemically changed before being shipped here so they are camouflaged as another substance. If they pass through our border controls, the crime gangs then put them through another process so they become precursors again.

Detective Inspector Anthony Vella, the head of the clandestine laboratory squad, said a huge volume of masked chemicals was being shipped in.

Police have uncovered sophisticated, dangerous meth labs across Victoria. Picture: Victoria Police

“There’s tonnes of it coming in, absolutely. We had one, I can’t talk about the specifics of the job because it’s before the courts, but we had one 14-tonne container of chemicals come in for that job, which we seized. It was a recent job,” Insp Vella said.

Forensics expert Sergeant Wayne Mitchell, who specialises in clandestine laboratory investigations, confirmed the growth in masked precursor use in the past five years.

“We are seeing the emergence of these masked precursors and they tend to be larger in size from what we’ve seen so far,” Sergeant Mitchell said.

“That will involve the use of large quantities of chemicals to be able to process and de-mask. These processes do lend themselves to larger scale production.”

Other syndicates do not alter the chemicals but mislabel them as other materials in an attempt to get them in.

A meth lab discovered by police. Picture: Supplied

Smaller labs are being run in short-stay, inner-city apartments. Picture: Victoria Police

The result of the increased push to bring in chemicals has meant officers were coming across 100-litre reaction vessels with enormous production capacity rather than the more conventional 2L.

“We’re definitely seeing a larger scale,” Inspector Vella said.

“Certainly if we let them go, they’re going continuously till such time as they were stopped? They could potentially produce tonnes.”

Some precursor chemicals are obtained domestically but the bulk are from China.

“From our experience the larger scale labs are sourcing a large proportion of precursor chemicals from overseas,” Inspector Vella said.

“China is certainly one of the countries we’ve seen coming from, probably the most prominent I’ve certainly seen, yes.”

“The whole range of crime groups is involved and are now more prepared to collaborate to produce drugs,” he said.

“The money is ultimately what they are after. We’ve certainly seen Asian organised crime working with Italian organised crime and those sorts of things … and OMCGs working with a whole gamut of organised crime entities as well.”

Inspector Vella said in some cases different groups carried out distinct roles such as chemical supply, manufacture and setting up premises.

Other smaller labs are being run in short-stay, inner-city apartments where criminals book in and cook for a couple of days before moving on.

Police say big organised crime groups are working together to produce drugs for money. Picture: Victoria Police

Police are also coming across smaller-scale manufacturing of a drug called DMT for what was described as more of a hippy market.

DMT is a potent hallucinogen extracted from the bark of native trees.

The labs operate using dangerous chemicals in a volatile environment.

Senior Sergeant Scott Harris of the Victoria Police Forensic Services Department confirmed “cooks” were getting bigger.

“We tend to see larger scale labs at the minute rather than the smaller scale things that we’ve seen,” Sen-Sgt Harris said. 

“With the manufacturing came the risk of exposure to dangerous substances, explosions and electrocution at such scenes.”

He said precursor chemicals and waste materials were more dangerous than the finished product. 

It took two days to render safe a huge lab at Braeside earlier this year as officers toiled in heat, dressed in stifling personal protection equipment.

Another 13 days were consumed pulling apart the lab and removing all exhibits from the operation, which had been running in a small factory on Canterbury Rd.

Sen-Sgt Harris said 97 per cent of the chemical, biological, radiological/disaster victim identification unit’s work was on clandestine labs.

He said another disturbing element of the industry was the indiscriminate disposal of toxic by-products.

Sen-Sgt Harris said it was poured into drains, dumped in public places like parks and left in industrial areas and building sites.

“There’s a huge amount of waste generated,” he said.

“There’s an ongoing challenge for the manufacturers that they are always producing a lot of waste, and they have to dispose of that waste. And they certainly don’t use the waste disposal companies or anything like that.”

A meth lab uncovered by the police clandestine laboratory squad. Picture: Victoria Police

Wretched recipe used by meth cooks

The scale and sophistication of 2023 meth production is a long way from that of 20 years ago.

Back then, a lot of amphetamine on the market was derived from cold and flu tablets purchased by an army of buyers moving from pharmacy to pharmacy.

Pseudoephedrine would later be extracted from the pills but restrictions on the chemist store purchases and ever-increasing demand meant that method could no longer keep pace.

Clandestine Laboratory Unit manager at Victoria Police’s Forensic Services Department Wayne Mitchell said authorities had seen a spike in recent years in new chemical make-ups that help manufacturers smuggle higher amounts of pure meth.

“Over the last five years, we’ve been able to determine new masked precursors coming into the country,” he said.

“We are seeing the emergence of these masked precursors, and they tend to be larger in size.”

Mr Mitchell said manufacturers were increasingly importing meth in a liquid form.

Once this pure, liquid form of the illicit drug reaches a clandestine lab, manufacturers recover the meth by separating its crystals and drying them out into the final product sold to consumers in what authorities have branded “recrystallisation” or “extraction” labs.

Manufacturers are increasingly importing meth in a liquid form. Picture: Victoria Police

One of the most common masked precursors used by manufacturers is benzyl methyl ketone (BMK), a compound that is also used to produce legitimate pharmaceuti-cal drugs.

“It’s really just a simple reaction with some general-type chemicals that would release that masking using basic solvents and chemicals,” Mr Mitchell said.

“That will involve the use of large quantities of chemicals to be able to process and de-mask (methamphetamines). These processes do lend themselves to larger scale production.

Mr Mitchell said the method was commonly employed by laboratories that varied from sophisticated operations to home setups.

“The method’s essentially like baking a cake. If you’ve got a set of instructions, and you’ve got the right chemicals, and the procedure is correct, then you can apply that and manufacture a drug.”

Combing through clandestine labs for evidence without being exposed to a slew of dangerous chemicals can be a dangerous business.

Illicit and flammable ingredients often fill buckets haphazardly strewn across the floor, surrounded by dodgy, “spaghetti-like” electrical wiring amid toxic gases filling the air inside a lab.

Mr Mitchell said officers went to extreme lengths to protect themselves.

Mr Mitchell said the team wore specialised flameproof breathing equipment and chemical suits that presented their own challenges.

“If you’re wearing respiratory protection, whether it’s breathing apparatus, or air purifying respirators, then you’re labouring more, so that it can be quite challenging,” he said.

“The rule of thumb is that every layer of personal protective equipment that you put on can add another 10 degrees to your temperature.”

Mr Mitchell said preparation to probe a lab begins well in advance of investigators arriving at the scene.

“We use cooling chairs to bring down our core temperature. We rest on a regular basis, we hydrate the night before and throughout the day,” he said.

“Rest and cooling using cooling tears are critical in order to maintain our own health and safety.”