POLICE RAID TRUCKIES' HIGHWAY 'DRUG STOP'

For interstate truck drivers dependent on amphetamines to help them
make it through the night the location could not have been more convenient.

There, right on the Newell Highway - part of the main trucking route
on the east coast - was, police say, a drug laboratory churning out
methyl-amphetamine, better known as speed.

The cover appeared to be perfect. It was right next to a service
station.

At 12.30am yesterday, in pouring rain, detectives led by officers from
the chemical operations unit of Crime Agencies raided the alleged lab
in Peak Hill, near Parkes, in western NSW.

Other raids were carried out in Victoria, Queensland and the ACT, and
a total of eight people, including three truck drivers, were arrested.

In addition, half a kilogram of speed allegedly made in Peak Hill was
seized in Queanbeyan, and a second alleged drug laboratory was
uncovered in Eumundi, in Queensland.

The acting commander of Crime Agencies, Chief Superintendent Rod
Harvey, said: "Our inquiries indicate this syndicate has produced and
supplied large quantities of methylamphetamine to interstate truck
drivers operating through NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Canberra."

Parkes court heard yesterday that during the three-month investigation
detectives had intercepted 2,500 telephone conversations and conducted
"undercover operatives affecting the distribution network of
interstate truck drivers".

Police were last night still searching the house at Peak Hill. It is
believed the search may last another two days because of the large
quantities of speed being uncovered in various hiding places.

The discovery of the alleged amphetamine lab has brought into stark
relief the drug abuse among a large number of interstate truckies.

Last month the NSW Motor Accidents Authority launched a safety inquiry
into the industry. The Transport Workers Union told the inquiry it was
not uncommon for drivers to spend 100 hours a week at the wheel. One
survey of almost 700 drivers had found that 30 per cent had used drugs.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Willingham, of the chemical operations
unit, said last night that more arrests were expected.

In Parkes local court yesterday, a 50-year-old man was charged with
five offences, including the manufacture ofa commercial quantity
ofmethylamphetamines, and an 18-year-old woman was charged with two
counts of manufacturing a prohibited drug.