HIDDEN DRUG LAIR
Banora Point raid reveals hidden lab
A HIDDEN bunker within a home south of the border has been uncovered in one of the biggest and most sophisticated drug laboratory busts this year.
Located behind a trapdoor, underneath a set of stairs in the Mariners Cres, Banora Point home, was an underground drug lab where police will allege amphetamines and MDMA were being produced on a commercial scale.
Police will allege they found upwards of 20kg of pure liquid drugs, with a street value in the millions of dollars.
They believe the extremely sophisticated laboratory had been in place for a long time and was about the size of a large bedroom, full of chemicals and lab equipment.
Police will further allege when they raided the home yesterday morning, a cook was at work, endangering officers and the public. They also found a quantity of powder, pills and crystals.
Due to the sheer scale of the lab and drugs found, police are investigating links to outlaw motorcycle gangs or underworld connections.
Detective Chief Inspector Brendon Cullen said: “All of that (the liquid, pills and powder) is going to be subject to analysis, but initial indications suggest that there is MDMA, amphetamines and methylamphetamines. There’s a whole array of different types of drugs there, we will allege.
“The sophistication of the laboratory suggests it has been operating for some time. This is a really significant disruption to the drug trade in our community.
“Within the house there was a trapdoor hidden under some stairs. Once those stairs were removed a door was revealed and an underground bunker area, which contained the laboratory … it was about the size of a large bedroom.
“There was a live process occurring at the time, which posed a significant danger to our police handling it.”
Insp Cullen said there would be further investigations into where the drugs were going once made.
“This had a very large pill press in it as well. We will allege it was a full-on production of illicit drug set-up.
“It’s hard to really say (where the drugs were going), but there’s markets here, there’s a market on the Gold Coast, we’ve got our festivals down here.
“Drugs are a problem in our community and they’re widely used in our community.
“Because the production of illicit drugs has been severely disrupted, people’s lives will be directly impacted by this for the better.
“We are committed to investigating the manufacture and supply of drugs in our area and this is testament to our commitment.”
A 65-year-old man has been charged with manufacture of prohibited drug greater than large commercial quantity and was refused bail in the Tweed Heads Local Court. Investigations are ongoing.