Hoard of meth gear uncovered

A CONVICTED drug trafficker who was hoarding a methamphetamines laboratory has told a court he wanted to bin it all but was worried about “getting himself in trouble”.

Kenneth Neil James, 34, pleaded guilty in the Townsville District Court to 11 charges including possess property suspected of having been used in connection with the commission of a drug offence.

The court heard James had a five page criminal history primarily for drug offending and had been convicted in 2009 for trafficking methamphetamines.

“It may have been appropriate for you to simply have smashed everything and gotten rid of it but I accept perhaps you may not have been thinking as clearly as you should have,” Judge John Coker said.

On July 24, 2018 the court heard police executed a search warrant at James’s address for an unrelated reason. At the time of the raid, James was on bail for charges dating from March.

Crown prosecutor Molly Mahlouzarides told the court police uncovered a methamphetamines lab.

“The defendant declared the box of chemicals to police. It contained 36 items of glassware and chemicals, some of which had been used to actually produce methamphetamines,” she said.

“The defendant admitted to police he had made methamphetamines on a single occasion years earlier.”

During the search, police also found weapons, ammunition, cannabis, morphine and drug paraphernalia, the court heard.

Defence barrister Dane Marley told the court James had struggled with a drug addiction for many years but the glassware had been sitting in the box for two years.

“He wanted to get rid of all the items in the box but he simply didn’t know how to without getting himself in trouble,” he said. “There is no suggestion the items were possessed for a commercial purpose.”

Judge Coker told James he believed that the items had been used some years ago. James was sentenced to 12 months’ jail with immediate parole.