Two Dutchmen jailed for making powerful hallucinogenic drugs in Greenock
Two Dutchmen were jailed for a total of 11 years today after they were caught in a raid on a flat turned into a drugs lab which had the potential to produce £5.5 million of a powerful hallucinogenic.
Two Dutchmen were jailed for a total of 11 years today after they were caught in a raid on a flat turned into a drugs lab which had the potential to produce £5.5 million of a powerful hallucinogenic.
Mitchell Lotz and Robin Sedmak arrived at the house in Greenock while police officers were carrying out a search at the premises.
Lotz was asked if there was anything that was potentially hazardous and replied: "Yes don't touch the chemicals upstairs with your bare hands." He said that liquid in a container was "N Bomb".
A judge jailed Lotz for six years for his role in the operation and his accomplice Sedmak for five years.
Lady Carmichael told Lotz that it was clear "the operation was a substantial one" and he had played a significant role in it. She said: "You admitted responsibility for the manufacture of Nbome."
The judge pointed out that Sedmak had provided chemicals for the production of the drug Nbome over a period of about five weeks.
Advocate depute Allan Nicol said: "It appears that Nbome tabs were being manufactured in the flat and being sold online."
Lotz (27) and Sedmak (29) both earlier admitted being concerned in the supply of Nbome, which is sometimes known as N Bomb or 251.
At the time of the offence the drug was illegal under a temporary order in Britain but it was later classified as a Class A drug, like heroin or cocaine.
Police found about 1,150,000 tabs at the flat but the vast majority had yet to be dipped with Nbome. The 17,500 dipped tabs recovered were worth pounds 88,000.
The advocate depute earlier told the High Court in Edinburgh: "The undipped tabs had the potential to realise just over pounds 5.5 million once dipped."
Expert drug officers said that individual Nbome tabs sold for pounds 5 each.
The prosecutor said police had received confidential information that they were involved in a drug supply operation from the property at 66C Cathcart Street, Greenock, Inverclyde.
When officers arrived at the flat in May 2014 a third man, Roderick Boudewijns (35) was found in the property. He was also charged with drugs offences but was earlier acquitted after the Crown accepted his not guilty pleas.
Officers found containers holding a clear liquid in a bedroom along with digital scales, beakers and bags of powder. They also recovered two cardboard boxes containing sheets of patterned paper divided into perforated sections.
Small amounts of Nbome powder were also found. The potent drug has been linked to deaths among users in Europe, America and Australia.
During the search they also found a lab coat, a mask, grinders, correspondence from a chemical supplier and 136 Ecstasy tablets worth more pounds 1000 on the streets.
Boudewijns told officers that his flatmate Lotz had an internet business selling "legal highs".
Laptop computers seized during the raid showed a link between Sedmak's email address and an internet company which sold legal highs and is believed to belong to Sedmak.
Lotz also admitted being concerned in the supply Ecstasy after tablets worth pounds 1300 were recovered.
Defence counsel Derick Nelson, for Lotz, said the process of preparing NBome was "a fairly simple one".
He said: "Powder was ordered from abroad. That powder is then mixed with an alcohol solution and sheets of paper are then dipped in the solution."
Mr Nelson said that Lotz was a first offender who had initially been engaged in a legitimate commercial enterprise.
"He was getting the chemicals in, dipping them and distributing them via the internet, generally outwith Scotland," he said. He said Lotz was charging 50 (Euro) cents a time but the value of the drug increased after it became illegal.
Mr Nelson said he learnt that the trade was no longer legal and was left with a lot of stock which the police found when they conducted the raid.
Both men had been granted bail in 2014 but failed to turn up at a subsequent court hearing. Lotz was extradited from the Netherlands and Sedmak surrendered to a warrant issued against him in August.