BOX OF TRICKS TURNS $300 INTO FIX

DRUG makers using portable laboratories can turn $300 worth of cold and flu
tablets into more than $10,000 worth of amphetamines in under three hours.

The laboratories - known as box labs because the components fit easily
inside a small container - are extremely dangerous but difficult to detect
because they can be packed up and moved easily.

They enable the drug maker to extract pseudoephedrine from over-the-
counter medications and synthesise it into pure amphetamine through a
series of volatile chemical reactions.

As few as 30 boxes of cold and flu tablets contain enough pseudoephedrine
to make up to one ounce (28g) of the drug. It could then be "cut" more than
10 times before being sold on the street.

Because the labs are portable, drug makers have been known to hire hotel
rooms to cook up a batch or drive to remote locations and set up inside
their car.

Once the cooking process is complete, the lab can be packed up within
minutes and moved to another location.

Police say the labs were not seen in WA two years ago but are becoming more
common because instruction manuals detailing how to build them are readily
available on the internet.

Glossy, professionally bound manuals are available by mail order through
publishers whose websites can be found within minutes.

Step-by-step videos are also available which also contain advice on how to
avoid being caught by police.

The manuals are prohibited in Australia and it is an offence to possess
them. But police have found them during raids on the homes of drug makers
in Perth.

Customs officers also regularly intercept them. The equipment and chemicals
needed to construct a lab cost less than $300. Many of the components are
available at hardware stores.

Det-Sgt Mal Jones, from the organised crime investigation unit, said the
community needed to be aware of the changing methods used by drug makers so
they could help detect suspicious activity.

He said when someone was making a batch of amphetamine, tell-tale chemical
smells were given off. Because the chemicals used in the process were
volatile, there was also a risk of explosion.

"As with all crimes, the flow of information from the public is vital in
helping us catch the crooks," Det-Sgt Jones said.