DANGER IN A SUITCASE

HOTELS and motels across South Australia have been put on alert for
drug-makers using rooms to operate dangerous amphetamine
laboratories.

The laboratories - which can easily be packed into suitcases - are
used to manufacture the amphetamine "speed". But they can explode or
produce toxic chemicals and fumes, police have warned.

Their concerns about the safety of guests and staff have prompted the
distribution of warning leaflets to more than 500 hotels and motels.

This follows the discovery of two drug laboratories being used in
short-term accommodation in the past 12 months.

"Intelligence indicates at this stage that it is becoming increasingly
popular," Detective Inspector Jim Carter, from the Drug and Organised
Crime Investigation Branch, said yesterday.

"It is quite feasible to suspect that these types of laboratories are
being used in hotels and motels at this stage.

"We must take an active role in making sure nobody is
harmed.

"There is a risk to the staff and other guests who may be in the room
later."

They spend as little as two or three days "cooking" a batch of
amphetamine and then move elsewhere to avoid detection.

The new trend has resulted in the alert being issued by detectives
with the Chemical Diversion Desk at the SA Police Drug and Organised
Crime Investigation Branch.

It has been distributed through the Australian Hotels Association and
the Hotel and Motel Accommodation Association.

"Amphetamine production in illegal clandestine laboratories poses
considerable risks to the general community," the circular warns.
"Criminal operators of the laboratories in SA have recently been
detected producing amphetamine in motel rooms and other short-term
rental accommodation.

"Some of these chemical reactions can produce toxic gases that have
produced fatalities in the United States."

Inspector Carter said the laboratories not only posed a danger while
in use but also in the days afterwards as chemical residues often
remained in areas where amphetamines had been produced.

"The problem with drug manufacture is that they are using strong
acids, alkalines and highly flammable solvents and gases," he said.
"And a lot of these people (drug makers) don't understand the dangers
of what they are working with."

Police have urged hotels, motels and other accommodation providers to
report suspicious activity.

The AHA's SA branch president, John Lewis, said the industry was
willing to work with police to prevent drug laboratories operating
from hotels and motels.

"Our industry, in particular, has a very important role to play as a
responsible corporate citizen," he said. "It is one of those things
that, if there is a concern, we as an industry will work through to
make sure is doesn't happen."