news, crime,
Prosecutors are set to receive “a formal plea offer” from one of the men charged over a “volatile” Canberra region meth lab that was allegedly capable of producing $34 million worth of drugs. Queanbeyan Local Court also heard on Tuesday that it seemed “an agreement” had been reached with authorities in the case of his co-accused. The apparent progress in the drawn-out matters of Luke Drever and Kevin Reilly follows revelations that the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has linked the clandestine laboratory to a major drug syndicate with overseas connections. Both men have been in custody since January last year, when they were arrested at a rural property in Harolds Cross, near Captains Flat. Police said at the time that officers had found a large-scale laboratory, 45 litres of methylamphetamine oil and more than 500 items “consistent with drug manufacture”, among other things. “Forty-five litres [of methylamphetamine oil] can translate to somewhere around 40kg of what we would ordinarily call ‘ice’,” NSW Police Drug and Firearms Squad commander John Watson said. “The commercial value of that would be somewhere around $4 million, but the potential street value of that is somewhere in the vicinity of $34 million.” Investigators claim Mr Drever, 38, travelled to the Harolds Cross area from his home in South Australia to meet with Mr Reilly, 39, and make “ice” with an “inherently volatile” setup. The men face a combined 10 charges, including manufacturing a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug. In court on Tuesday, Mr Drever’s lawyer James Maher said there would be “a formal plea offer” extended to prosecutors, “with a view to resolving the matter prior to committal”. No one appeared for Mr Reilly when his matter was called, but Magistrate Joy Boulos said the court had received a note from his solicitor suggesting “an agreement” had been reached. A prosecutor indicated that was correct, but no further details were given. Both men’s cases return to court on April 6. Tuesday’s developments followed the recent publication of a Federal Court judgement, which revealed a suspected drug delivery driver had been locked up for eight months over his refusal to answer questions from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. The judgement shows that the man, referred to only as CRA20, was the subject of “extensive electronic and physical surveillance”. As a result, he was hauled before the commission and quizzed by one of its “examiners”, lawyer David Lusty, within weeks of Mr Drever and Mr Reilly being arrested. Mr Lusty’s questions revealed that the man was suspected of transporting drugs in a Ford Falcon with a hidden compartment. He told the man: “The [commission] believes that you can provide highly relevant information, relating to a major drug syndicate with connections overseas that operates in multiple jurisdictions in Australia.” Mr Lusty said the commission suspected this syndicate involved at least a dozen people. He said while it had been “disrupted through the recent arrests of a few people and the closing down of a major meth lab in Captains Flat”, it was believed to still have “the capability and the intention to engage in major drug trafficking activities that can cause immense harm to the community”. But the man refused to answer 14 questions posed by Mr Lusty, citing concerns for his safety. He was subsequently charged with contempt of the commission, and pleaded guilty. Justice Wendy Abraham jailed him for eight months late last year, saying he had been given repeated opportunities to answer the questions and still deliberately chose not to comply. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/37pQecASsxP5kZpQjfMrnhn/75b0a312-30e8-4a0f-8e3a-70b449fcd0dc.jpg/r0_0_1195_675_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
Prosecutors are set to receive “a formal plea offer” from one of the men charged over a “volatile” Canberra region meth lab that was allegedly capable of producing $34 million worth of drugs.
Queanbeyan Local Court also heard on Tuesday that it seemed “an agreement” had been reached with authorities in the case of his co-accused.
The apparent progress in the drawn-out matters of Luke Drever and Kevin Reilly follows revelations that the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has linked the clandestine laboratory to a major drug syndicate with overseas connections.
Police said at the time that officers had found a large-scale laboratory, 45 litres of methylamphetamine oil and more than 500 items “consistent with drug manufacture”, among other things.
“Forty-five litres [of methylamphetamine oil] can translate to somewhere around 40kg of what we would ordinarily call ‘ice’,” NSW Police Drug and Firearms Squad commander John Watson said.
“The commercial value of that would be somewhere around $4 million, but the potential street value of that is somewhere in the vicinity of $34 million.”
Investigators claim Mr Drever, 38, travelled to the Harolds Cross area from his home in South Australia to meet with Mr Reilly, 39, and make “ice” with an “inherently volatile” setup.
The men face a combined 10 charges, including manufacturing a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.
In court on Tuesday, Mr Drever’s lawyer James Maher said there would be “a formal plea offer” extended to prosecutors, “with a view to resolving the matter prior to committal”.
No one appeared for Mr Reilly when his matter was called, but Magistrate Joy Boulos said the court had received a note from his solicitor suggesting “an agreement” had been reached.
A prosecutor indicated that was correct, but no further details were given.
Both men’s cases return to court on April 6.
Tuesday’s developments followed the recent publication of a Federal Court judgement, which revealed a suspected drug delivery driver had been locked up for eight months over his refusal to answer questions from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.
The judgement shows that the man, referred to only as CRA20, was the subject of “extensive electronic and physical surveillance”.
As a result, he was hauled before the commission and quizzed by one of its “examiners”, lawyer David Lusty, within weeks of Mr Drever and Mr Reilly being arrested.
Mr Lusty’s questions revealed that the man was suspected of transporting drugs in a Ford Falcon with a hidden compartment.
He told the man: “The [commission] believes that you can provide highly relevant information, relating to a major drug syndicate with connections overseas that operates in multiple jurisdictions in Australia.”
Mr Lusty said the commission suspected this syndicate involved at least a dozen people.
He said while it had been “disrupted through the recent arrests of a few people and the closing down of a major meth lab in Captains Flat”, it was believed to still have “the capability and the intention to engage in major drug trafficking activities that can cause immense harm to the community”.
But the man refused to answer 14 questions posed by Mr Lusty, citing concerns for his safety.
He was subsequently charged with contempt of the commission, and pleaded guilty.
Justice Wendy Abraham jailed him for eight months late last year, saying he had been given repeated opportunities to answer the questions and still deliberately chose not to comply.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
