By Laura Wakely
POLICE have discovered four drug labs in the past three months in the Brimbank area.
Most recently, police raided a hydroponic cannabis set up in St Albans last week.
Police from the Brimbank Divisional Tasking Unit pulled over a car in Sunshine Ave on Wednesday last week.
A search of the car led police to an address in Sunshine Ave, where police executed a search warrant and found a quantity of dried cannabis, 46 cannabis plants and a hydroponic set up.
Two men were arrested, with one man released and the other pending summons for cultivating narcotic plants.
Earlier this month Brimbank police uncovered a hydroponic set up and 200 cannabis plants in a Weeks Ave home in Melton and the Altona North Divisional Response Unit found an amphetamines lab in a Hawkesbury Ave garage in Hillside.
In August firefighters discovered a cannabis set-up in a Wellman Parade home in Deer Park and in July police found 151 cannabis plants and a set up in Southbank Walk in Taylors Hill.
Police also uncovered hydroponic drug labs in Keilor East and St Albans in May.
Keilor Downs Senior Sergeant Tim O’Connor was unable to state whether drug labs were on the rise, but said police had come across them “fairly regularly”.
Sen Sgt O’Connor said the Brimbank Crime Tasking Unit had been providing a “dedicated response to drug related matters”, drawing on information from the public and other investigations.
He said clandestine labs, which are used to manufacture drugs like methamphetamines and ecstasy, weren’t as common as cannabis set-ups, but both were being found in residential areas across Brimbank and Melton.
Sen Sgt O’Connor said signs that homes could contain drug operations included a continuous whirring or faint buzzing sound, windows that were covered or shaded all the time, were usually unkempt and had people coming and going at odd hours despite the appearance of no one living there.
He said residents suspicious about the possibility of a drug set up in a neighbouring house should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
