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NEWS: Herald Sun - 18/12/07 'Pharmaceutical grade drugs found in $3m Melbourne bust'

lil angel15

lil angel15

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Pharmaceutical grade drugs found in $3m Melbourne drug bust
Matthew Schulz
December 18, 2007 09:58am

POLICE have seized drugs worth more than $3 million, along with a huge stockpile of drug-making chemicals from a house in Melbourne's north early this morning.

Drugs taskforce detectives swooped on the Epping house at 2.40am this morning and confiscated five million pharmaceutical-grade pseudo ephedrine tablets.

The tablets are often used to make amphetamine or speed.

A 36-year-old Epping man was arrested and is expected to be charged later today with trafficking a commercial quantity of a drug of dependence.

Police estimated the street value of the tablets was about $3 million.

Officers also took possession of 250kg of white powder, 300 vials of steroids, many bottles of methadone and about 200 litres of other chemicals.

Police also took a Holden Commodore, three three plasma TVs, and several air conditioning units under proceeds of crime laws.

Drug Taskforce Detective Inspector Steve Smith said authorities believed the pseudo ephedrine and chemicals could have been used to produce 150kg of amphetamines.

“Police are concerned that these chemicals have made their way on to the illicit market and we are making inquiries about how they came to be in possession of this man," Det-Inspector Smith said.
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Herald Sun
 
Drug haul accused faces court
Matthew Burgess
December 18, 2007 - 11:53AM

An Epping man arrested this morning after the seizure of millions of pseudoephedrine tablets has faced Melbourne Magistrates Court.

John Gonzalez, 36, was today remanded to appear in court on March 12, 2008, for a committal mention.

He appeared solemn, with his head bowed, during his short appearance.

Gonzalez has been charged with trafficking a drug of dependence and two counts of possessing a drug of dependence.

Drug task force detectives uncovered around 5 million pseudoephedrine tablets after executing a warrant at an Epping property about 2.40am this morning.

The tablets have an estimated street value of about $3 million.

As well as the pseudoephedrine tablets, 250 kilograms of white powder, 300 phials of steroids, numerous bottles of methadone and about 200 litres of chemicals were also seized in the search,

Chief Magistrate Ian Gray today remanded Gonzalez in custody until March 12, 2008.

A Commodore, three plasma televisions and a number of air conditioners were also seized this morning.
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The AGE
 
Massive drug bust baffles Vic police
December 18, 2007 - 5:44PM

Police are baffled over how a man allegedly acquired $3 million worth of pseudoephedrine tablets seized from a Melbourne home early Tuesday.

Drug taskforce detectives found more than five million pharmaceutical-grade tablets in a raid at 2.30am (AEDT) on a family home at Epping in Melbourne's northern suburbs.

Police said they also seized 250kg of white powder, 300 vials of steroids, numerous bottles of methadone and about 200 litres of various chemicals from the home.

Detective Inspector Steve Smith, of the drug taskforce, told reporters the situation was unusual because illicit drug manufacturers normally used "pseudo runners" to acquire commercial pseudoephedrine in small amounts from pharmacies.

Pseudoephedrine is used in the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine, or speed.

"We don't know how this man came by packaging of that sheer size," he said.

"It has certainly not come over the counter. It appears to be a one-off enterprise for this fellow, who has significant abilities to obtain large amounts of pills.

"We will re-group and examine the packaging, pills, names and brands to ascertain its origins and whether other people are involved in helping this guy."

The tablets were stored in plain plastic bags and boxes, rather than commercial packaging.

Det Insp Smith said the drugs and chemicals would have been processed for criminal elements in clandestine laboratories to create more than 150kg of illicit amphetamines.

Although chemical companies and pharmacists have adopted anti-diversion programs to stop the illegal spread of pseudoephedrine, the scale of Tuesday's seizure was beyond their scope, he said.

"It's also very troubling to find something of this size and nature can be in a house in suburbia," Det Insp Smith said.

"But it's pleasing to get them off the market and we may well have starved a number of labs of their main chemicals."

John Gonzalez, 36, was charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of a drug of dependence.

Chief Magistrate Ian Gray remanded him in custody to appear in March in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Mr Gonzalez's wife - who police say they have no plans to charge at this stage - and two primary school-aged children were asleep in the Epping house when the raid took place.

"Clearly it's a recipe for disaster to have tablets available and lying around loose for the children and other children visiting if they swallow them," Det Insp Smith said.

"Neighbours might have seen people coming and going carrying out large boxes and identified pharmaceuticals, chemicals or bulk medicines that would arouse suspicions and they should report that."

A Holden Commodore, three plasma TVs, and a number of air conditioners were among items seized as possible proceeds of crime.
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The AGE
 
NEWS: theage.com.au - 1/2/08 ' Father exposed toddlers to drugs'

Father exposed toddlers to drugs, court told

Steve Butcher
February 1, 2008

A DETECTIVE has described his shock at a father who allegedly exposed his two toddlers to a Victorian record haul of 5 million drug tablets, a vial of salmonella bacteria and an explosive compound left near the children's trampoline.

John Gonzalez was arrested in December after police found his Epping home strewn with packaged and loose pseudoephedrine tablets worth an estimated $25 million if converted to 150 kilograms of pure methamphetamine.

Detective Senior Constable Peter Dechene told Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday he was shocked that Gonzalez's wife and children, aged three and five, were in "such imminent risk of such danger".

Senior Constable Dechene said it was one thing that Gonzalez was charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of pseudoephedrine "but to subject your family, especially young children who he is entrusted with their welfare, is inexcusable".

Gonzalez, 36, is accused of stealing the pseudoephedrine — a precursor ingredient to making methamphetamine — assorted chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs worth about $5 million from a chemical waste facility in Laverton North from 2005.

He is charged with 13 offences, including reckless conduct endangering serious injury for the insecure storage of volatile chemicals, restricted medications and a vial of salmonella found in a fridge in a garage and possessing 13 litres of methadone.

Prosecutor Chris Beale opposed bail because Gonzalez had reason to flee as he faced a maximum life sentence if convicted of trafficking.

Senior Constable Dechene said Gonzalez was a leading hand at SteriCorp and was responsible for destroying tablets and chemicals.

Senior Constable Dechene conceded to defence barrister Joe Kaufman that the quality and identity of some drugs could change once they were analysed.

Mr Kaufman told magistrate Sarah Dawes that Gonzalez and his wife were "doting parents" whose children were well looked after.

He submitted it would be two years before the case was finalised and Gonzalez was a "man without any reason to run from this country". "He's not a Mokbel," Mr Kaufman said.

Ms Dawes said she was concerned that Gonzalez allegedly possessed a labelled vial of salmonella.

In refusing bail, she noted he was charged with possessing 200 times more than the law designates for trafficking a large commercial quantity of pure pseudoephedrine.

Gonzalez will appear in court again in March
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theage.com.au
 
13L of methadone!!!! 8o

Wow...and he could have made 150kgs of methamphetamine; he must have had hundreds of packs of pseudoephedrine.

But LOL at the 'labelled' vial of salmonella, I wonder what he was planning on using that for ;)
 
Interesting how the article emphasizes the drugs and yet makes little mention of the salmonella. In my opinion, who cares about the drugs .. unless he was researching bacteria, theres no reason [that isn't malicious] for him having the vial of salmonella.
 
if this guy was a muslim / islamic

there would be little to no mention of the drugs
it would be all about the salmonella
and a potential terrorist attack

funded by drug money.

is it just me, or is the standard of reporting the news becoming worse and worse?
 
js2k6 said:
if this guy was a muslim / islamic

there would be little to no mention of the drugs
it would be all about the salmonella
and a potential terrorist attack

funded by drug money.

is it just me, or is the standard of reporting the news becoming worse and worse?
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a vial of salmonella bacteria and an explosive compound <---

If he was arab then he would be charged with some terrorist offence of some sort.

For this bloke to have this shit around his kids wont do so well for him when he is in front of the judge , I will say he will be a very very old man when he gets out of jail.
 
holy crap

Damn! thats like 150,000 blister packets of ephedrine! thats surely not possible!8o
 
LMFAO!! there some nutters out there I tell ya

I can just imagine this house with hardly any furniture just packed with boxes of sudafed hahaha!

and I agree, what the shit is wrong with them worrying about some decongestants and basically ignoring the LABELLED (LOL) bottle of bacteria?

and 13 L of Methadone??? WOW. That is a LOT of methadone. I bet that guy is PISSSSSSSSED right now!!
 
they would be imported via ship easily.
Probably knows someone in the navy. Sometimes it takes like 3 days for customs to start checking the navy boats docked and they check 5-10% of luggage TOPS.. So walking on and off with them hidden/packed to you a fair few times would easily get the amount of pills off.
 
He stole them from a chemical warehouse, i don't know where you're pulling this "Navy" business from.

Read the last article that was posted.
 
ah yeah, i read it days ago, didnt realise it was bumped and this was a new article.. kinda speed-readed through it :p just saw the bit where it said tyheyre wondering the pills ORIGIN and thought they meant country.

Just mentioned the navy thing because a lot of drugs are moved through them. people who use planes are greedy and will get caught, they need to make sure theyre ahead of the demand if thats their business.
 
Yeah i can imagine it wouldn't be too hard via the Navy, however 5 million pills is pushing it. Even before they released how he obtained them, i knew there was some sort of loophole he was exploiting, no other way to obtain that much IMO.
 
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