Loophole allowing bikie gangs to buy thousands of cold tablets to make illegal drugs
By Janet Fife-Yeomans
The Daily Telegraph
April 10, 2009 12:01am
Rule change ... despite buyers having to produce their drivers licences to buy these drugs there is no cross-checking
A LOOPHOLE being exploited by bikie gangs to buy thousands of over-the-counter flu and cold tablets to turn into illegal drugs urgently needs to be closed, pharmacists said yesterday.
Six kilos of pseudoephedrine-based tablets, which can be turned into the drug ice, were allegedly found by police who raided a drug laboratory linked to the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang on the South Coast at Bingi on Tuesday.
Officers with Strike Force Kook, who dismantled the drug factory, also allegedly found 100 litres of precursor chemicals which they said was enough to manufacture a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The chemicals were being cooked up in woks in an industrial kitchen on the motel-style property and police yesterday made a plea for information from the public about the purchase of the massive amount of over-the-counter cold and flu tablets.
Pharmacy Guild national president Kos Sclavos said co-called "pseudo-runners" still had it too easy.
He called on the Government to make mandatory a voluntary system called Project STOP that links all pharmacists and provides a web-based real-time database of customers requesting products containing pseudoephedrine.
He said that in NSW, despite buyers having to produce their drivers licences to buy these drugs, it could take up to a month before pharmacists handed the information to police.
"There is no way of knowing someone has not gone on to the next shop and the next and bought more tablets using false IDs," Mr Sclavos said.
"By the time the information is recorded it is too late.
"These criminal elements are very clever. The bikies don't go into shops wearing their leathers which would raise alarm bells."
Mr Sclavos said they were also proficient in faking flu symptoms complete with nasal congestion.
Under Project STOP, the pharmacist is instantly able to verify if a purchase has already been made against a particular ID and police are automatically alerted to any suspicious purchase.
Since Project STOP went on line in November 2005, pharmacists have refused 26,000 suspect sales nationally but in NSW only 65 per cent of the state's 1500 pharmacists have signed up for the voluntary system.
The Daily Telegraph yesterday bought five packets of medication containing pseudoephedrine from five pharmacists in Surry Hills and Darlinghurst in one hour. Each shop recorded details of the drivers licence but there was no system of cross-checking.
NSW Health Minister John Della Bosca was aware of Project STOP and has been looking at the effectiveness of the system, a spokesman said yesterday.
Meanwhile, police have appealed for information from the public following the release of three people arrested over the alleged drug factory at Bingie.
Daily Telegraph