A large-scale clandestine drug lab near Canberra where two men manufactured nearly 50kg of methylamphetamine oil was brought undone by their own dash-cam footage, a hardware store's CCTV and police surveillance.
One of the men, who used fake identification as part of the scheme, thought their operation would "be killing everyone else cooking here", court documents state.
Luke Drever, 38, and Kevin Reilly, 39, appeared via audio-visual link in the Queanbeyan Local Court on Tuesday when they pleaded guilty to manufacturing a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug on January 9-11 in 2020.
The operation at a 40-hectare rural property in Harolds Cross, about 65km southeast of Canberra, involved a shed that had been converted into a two-storey homestead with living and garage sections and a smaller cream shed nearby.
During the men's arrest, three jerry cans containing an oily liquid from the crime scene were seized.
Upon forensic analysis, the cans contained a total of 46.4kg of meth oil of which 31.9kg was pure.
Police previously described the operation as "inherently volatile" and said the commercial value of the ice "would be somewhere around $4 million, but the potential street value of that is somewhere in the vicinity of $34 million".
During their search of Reilly's Toyota HiLux at the scene, police found his and Drever's wallets containing $1100 and $390, respectively.
In the latter were also numerous fake identification cards that Drever used to travel from Adelaide to Canberra two days before being arrested.
In the homestead building, police found Drever's backpack containing $2950 and Reilly's rifle with a scope attached and self-loading shotgun.
The men's arrest was the culmination of Strike Force Bluffview investigating the manufacture and supply of meth in the NSW Southern Tablelands.
This involved a warrant to set up surveillance at the Harolds Cross property in August 2019, which included video and listening devices in the cream shed.
Police also intercepted the offenders' mobile phones.
Among the recorded discussions of their operation, Drever told Reilly: "I think pseudo is pretty much dead. Once we get this thing up and running, I think I'll stick to that".
"It's a bit harder, but it'd be killing everyone else cooking here," Drever said.
The pair also discussed contracting the construction of the shed but were concerned about who the contractors may bring to the property and whether the contractors could become suspicious.
Drever also spoke about needing another room for the extraction fans because the operation was getting larger.
Video footage in the cream shed also captured the men during their operation.
Court documents state that Reilly led the construction of the larger shed in November 2019 before he went to Bunnings in Fyshwick two months later to buy $322 worth of gear - including the jerry cans - for the operation.
He then waited 40 minutes in his HiLux for Drever to arrive on foot with the incident captured on the store's CCTV.
Dash cam footage inside Reilly's HiLux showed them returning to the property.
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The operation initially had four stainless-steel fabricated reaction vessels with an estimated capacity of 500 litres.
However, when police raided the property and arrested the offenders, only one vessel with a capacity of 441 litres remained.
There were also a number of condensers, extraction tubing, numerous fans, separating funnels, buckets with iodine staining and cubic containers along a shelf set up with a hosing system.
Inside the garage part of the homestead were caustic soda, gas bottles, generators, two 200-litre conical separating vessels, fabricated vessels and large drums believed to contain iodine.
Following their arrest, Reilly declined to participate in an interview while Drever said he did not have a return ticket to SA.
When asked about the manufacture of prohibited drugs, he said "no, I won't answer that at the moment".
The charges of possessing identification information to commit an indictable offence and dealing with property proceeds of crime against Drever will be taken into account during his sentencing.
For Reilly, those charges are two counts each of possessing unauthorised prohibited firearm and not safely storing firearms.
They also include one count each of possessing an unregistered firearm and dealing with property proceeds of crime.
Magistrate Roger Clisdell scheduled March 7 for when the cases will be mentioned in the Queanbeyan District Court.
Sentencing dates are yet to be fixed.
