Police have seized $5.2 million worth of illegal drugs and manufacturing equipment from a clandestine drug lab with alleged links to 11 overdoses and the deaths of two people who attended September’s Defqon.1 festival in Sydney.
A 39-year-old man has been charged over the seizure, after police investigated the lab in Mt Hunter in Sydney’s south-west on 24th October.
Police seized over 450 items, including more than 21kg of MDMA powder and pills, 28L of GHB, 13.5kg of precursors, substances believed to be cocaine, steroids and methylamphetamine, ammunition and drug-making equipment.
Police have also alleged there are links between the drug lab, a number of people dealing drugs at Defqon.1 and “outlaw motorcycle gangs”.
State Crime Commander, Acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith said a “parent chemical” known as MDA was found at the lab, and had also been found in the 11 people who were hospitalised from overdoses at Defqon.1, the ABC reports.
He also said triangle-shaped pill stamps found in the lab were “not dissimilar” to those seized at Defqon.1.
“There is no quality control in illicit substances and the community should be aware that there is no way of knowing what you are ingesting and how it will affect you,” he said.
“We will continue to dismantle and disrupt these criminal drug enterprises and stop this poison from hitting our streets.”
The man arrested over the Mt Hunter lab been charged with multiple drug charges, including large commercial drug manufacture and large commercial drug supply. He appeared in Campbelltown Local Court on Friday, 26th October, and was refused bail.
He is now due to appear before the same court on Wednesday, 19th December.
There has been a renewed push for pill testing to be implemented at music festivals following this year’s Defqon.1 deaths, but the NSW Government has declined to consider it as an option for harm minimisation.
