Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
WHEN police today released photos of the latest clandestine drug lab they had dismantled — this time in the state’s central west — it was further proof of the disgusting and dangerous methods used by sinister producers with nothing more than money on their mind.
For those not in the grip of this life-destroying drug, it’s difficult to understand how you could go anywhere near it after seeing how it’s made.
Filthy laboratory flasks are hooked up to petrol cans and gas tanks with dirty brown liquids that will soon be crystallised and sold on the street.
The heavy duty protective suits police must wear to process these drug dens is a telling indication of just how dangerous the chemicals being used to produce these drugs actually are.
Ammonia, hydrochloric acid, lithium and mercury are just a few of them.
The operations that were mostly run out of garages in suburban properties have now morphed into large scale operations capable of producing large quantities of ice which is sold for huge amounts of money across the state.
These manufacturers are obviously prepared to go out of their way to protect their lucrative business and weapons are often found when police knock down the doors and shut them down.
In Cowra, officers retrieved a shotgun and a number of knives.
With ice addiction out of control in NSW, the state’s drugs squad has been targeting these labs in an effort to starve the supply onto the street.
In the 12 months to the end of August last year, more than 100 of these setups had been found by cops and dismantled.
After the bust in Cowra yesterday the state’s top drugs cop, Detective Superintendent Tony Cooke, was clear that this was a major focus for his team.
“This is a dangerous drug — it causes great harm to users and hurts entire communities, and we need to do everything we can to tackle it head on,” he said.
“That includes shutting down the illegal laboratories where it’s being manufactured, seizing the precursor chemicals which have been diverted into criminal hands, and arresting those people who peddle these drugs in our communities.”
From Mount Druitt and Blacktown in Sydney’s west to inner city Surry Hills and Zetland and north to Tweed Heads and Forster on the north coast, the labs were found right across the state.
Earlier this month it was revealed that children as young as eight were becoming addicted to the drug in rural areas of the state, and up to 4000 high school children between the ages of 12 and 17 had tried ice.
Evil dealers were enticing kids with the promise of gaining superhero powers in an effort to get them hooked on the drug at an early age.
One reformed user, stay-at-home mum Rocky, told the Blacktown Advocate she was spending thousands of dollars a week on ice after turning to the drug following a car accident which killed her friend.
“I was using $1000 worth of ice a day from October 2013 to April last year,” she said.
“I’d isolate myself or I’d play the pokies. You wouldn’t see me for days because I’d be in my room married to the pipe.”
Another addict who successfully kicked the deadly habit told of how it nearly destroyed his life.
“I had a perfect life and I went and wrecked two and half years of it because of something stupid,” truck driver Paul Munro told the Advocate.
Stay-at-home mum Rocky. Picture: Phillip Rogers
Truck driver Paul Munro. Picture: Phillip Rogers
“I’d smoke it every two hours. Cost-wise, depending on the quality of the gear, it was $400-$500 a week. I didn’t care about anything else except getting high. Looking back now, it looks completely stupid.”
With NSW in the grip of an ice epidemic, police are calling on the public to help get it under control.
“I’m also calling on the public to do their part by providing any information they have about the manufacture or supply of ice to police via Crime Stoppers,” Detective Superintendent Cooke said.
Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...our-ice-epidemic/story-fni0cx4q-1227326579141
