KIDS SHOP FOR DRUG LABS

Children as young as 13 are being used by drug syndicates to buy raw
materials for the illegal drug methamphetamine (Speed) in Wellington, police
say.

Organised Crime Unit head Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Arnerich said the
involvement of teenagers in the drug industry was a major concern for
police.

Criminal syndicates are known to organise shopping sprees for
over-the-counter cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine (PSE),
one of the key raw materials used in the manufacture of speed.

These shopping expeditions are spread across the country, with only small
quantities of the medicines bought at each location, to avoid police
detection.

Chemists and drug warehouses in the Wellington region have been burgled for
Speed ingredients in the past and Mr Arnerich said "PSE shoppers" were a
problem.

"We have had incidents of younger teenagers working for the methamphetamine
syndicates to purchase PSE products, some as young as 13. They were working
for gang syndicates," Mr Arnerich said.

Some Wellington pharmacies are now demanding photo identification from
buyers of PSE products and police are pushing for chemists to record the
details of buyers.

In some cases, pharmacists are refusing to sell people cold and flu remedies
if they suspect that the medicines will be used illegally.

Pharmacy Guild president Gray Maingay said pharmacists are asking for
identification, particularly if the customer wasn't known to the pharmacist.

"Every pseudoephedrine sale is treated on its merits and weighed up
accordingly," he said.

Four methamphetamine labs have been uncovered in Wellington so far this year
and Mr Arnerich acknowledges there are more operating undetected.

"Methamphetamine production is a very organised enterprise that requires
several different cells (individuals) who are each tasked with acquiring the
different resources that are required," he said.

The Evening Post understands one difficulty for police is that the cells
buying the pseudoephedrine-based products are low down the organised pecking
order of the drug syndicates. The lower layers protect the top.

Commissioner For Children Roger McClay said this was another of the
"hair-raising and extraordinary ways" he'd heard of "lawbreakers and creeps"
using children for their own gain.