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Tdep
National Hazard
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Registered: 31-1-2013
Location: Laser broken since Feb 2020 lol
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Mood: PhD is done! It isn't good but it's over lol
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It finally happened, the police showed up
Yay it's my time to tell a story.
I was having breakfast, it was about 1pm (don't judge me) when there's a knock on the door. My dad answers it, I hear some talking before he calls me
over. At the door are two policemen and a policewoman (?) all dressed up in uniform.
"Hello, we're from the [local] police service. Customs has notified us that you've been importing some glassware from China. Are you running a
clandestine laboratory?"
"ah... no I am not"
"So you're not producing methamphetamines?"
"No"
"So what are you doing then?"
I explain about how i'm doing a chemistry degree and like doing a bit of stuff at home. I offer to show the the lab, they actually seem positively
curious. Now, i've often told myself 'the day you don't clean up is the day the police show up' and yes, this was true. My lab looks like a train
wreck covered in sulfur and smelling weakly of piss. Actually i'll attach a photo of what they walked into.
They were totally cool with it! I showed them my disulfur dichloride, flipped through my notebook pointing out things like 'electowinning of zinc' and
'perchloric acid production'. They asked what sort of job I wanted. I asked if anything was illegal or I could order it differently to avoid this, and
they said no. They all seemed like really nice guys, and barely looked around the lab at all. They were 100% only looking for meth production, as i'd
assumed from the very start of setting up my lab. They didn't ask about illegal drug manufacture, they asked about methamphetamines. I didn't mention
EM of course but they weren't looking for it.
They got back into their unmarked car, I thanked them for doing this so nicely and being good people. The lead guy joked "yeah man, we're not going to
come in and kick your door down. Although I do have a warrant in my pocket had I needed it. And my partner has her camera ready to go if needed" and I
noticed for the first time that she was carrying a camera that she hadn't turned on at all, good sign. Also, interestingly, it was a very similar
camera to what I use to film everything.
Tl;Dr: 3 police showed up looking for meth because of ebay glassware, happy with backyard science explanation, Australian police are level headed
lads.
[Edited on 31-5-2015 by Tdep]
[Edited on 31-5-2015 by Tdep]
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Corrosive Joeseph
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Sorry to hear this.
Don't want to be nosey but what is EM?
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Tdep
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Location: Laser broken since Feb 2020 lol
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Mood: PhD is done! It isn't good but it's over lol
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Energetic materials. Like the two kilos of perchlorates I have.
(sorry for the casual brag there)
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Corrosive Joeseph
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LOL, no worries. I should have got that myself. Duh!
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Zyklon-A
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Glad they were so nice, I'm sure I'll get raided (around here it's just inevitable - if you want to do any cool organic chem) at some point in life.
Keeping your lab tidy, labeling chemicals and keeping a notebook with legal chemical reactions/procedures can turn the meanest pigs into interesting
people (but still pigs).
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violet sin
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refreshing to hear it went well, not so swell that it occurred because of an ebay order...
---------------------------------------
edited for stupidity.. apparently I can't read as the question was answered in OP..
[Edited on 31-5-2015 by violet sin]
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Tdep
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Mood: PhD is done! It isn't good but it's over lol
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The notebook is definitely an excellent safeguard. I only started writing stuff a few weeks ago, and glad I did.
I did say 'as far as i'm aware, none of the glassware is illegal to own' which the police officer confirmed. And he did mention it was customs who let
them know.
My second glassware purchase arrived a little over a week ago, involving a sep funnel, two neck flask and buchner filtration setup. My first order was
a distillation setup and heating mantle. Both orders from the ebay user DesChem (whose stuff i've found to be very good for the price)
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hissingnoise
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What could possibly be worse than a tidy lab?
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NedsHead
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Hi Tdep, Do you mind me asking what state you're in?
I hate to be "that guy" but I think you may be raided in the future.
The police are completely incompetent at stopping crime however need to justify their spending and authoritarian ways while also appearing competent
and necessary in the public eye, the only way they can do that is by raiding a whole backlog of known home chemists off their books in the next "ice"
frenzy. It's all just a game and you are a guaranteed pay cheque to them.
The front pages will read: "hero police save innocent families from evil clandestine lab" and everybody will pat themselves on the back at a job well
done and the community will be praising the hero police.
It's also rather concerning that they had a rubber stamped warrant ready to go even though there wasn't a grain of evidence of wrongdoing.
[Edited on 31-5-2015 by NedsHead]
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Tdep
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SA! Adelaide Hills. Hey, state buddies! This is cool, finally someone close by on the forum!
Yeah, look part of me thinks there's a chance of them coming back, I can already image the Today Tonight story about teenage drug producers on a
rampage. But really, they seemed alright the first time and for as long as I don't make meth (forever), i'll be fine.
They weren't scouting me out, I have no doubt that they would have arrested me had they found what they were looking for. They didn't take any footage
at all, no photos, which gives me confidence.
I don't think it's justified, I ordered glassware I knew was watched and someone could very well use to make meth. They're shutting down the drug labs
and seem to be fine with me and my experiments, I have no reason to think of them as anything other than the good guys.
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j_sum1
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Ned, I have to disagree with you.
If the police receive a tip off from customs (which is just customs doing their job) then what reasonable action should we expect the police to take?
Pretty much exactly what Tdep experienced. Cover themselves with the appropriate paperwork and manpower so that they can take quick action if they do
discovrr a meth lab. Otherwise be friendly as they check things out. The fact that no photos or documentation was taken is very telling. All they need
to do is report that they followed up a lead and there was nothing of concern.
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blogfast25
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Isn't it totally bonkers though how they practically equate glassware with drugs production?
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NedsHead
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On reflection I guess you are both right Tdep and j_sum1, I'm glad it went smoothly and wasn't blown out of proportion.
In S.A.We are fortunate not to have any laws against glassware but it would seem customs report it and it still gets looked into anyway (good to know)
Who did you order the glassware through? I've been using sciencesupply.com.au and find them really good for cheaper Chinese stuff and they are in our
state
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WGTR
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I guess this is common sense, but if there is anything questionable in your lab/house/tool shed/whatever, I'd recommend getting rid of it now. They
may come back for a more thorough look later on.
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Tdep
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Quote: Originally posted by WGTR  | | I guess this is common sense, but if there is anything questionable in your lab/house/tool shed/whatever, I'd recommend getting rid of it now. They
may come back for a more thorough look later on. |
Well they saw my sodium and were fine with it, that's probably my most 'drug precursor' chemical. Of course I'm going to clean up, not sure if that
makes it look 'worse' or not, but hey, I do need space to work
Oh but um, on an unrelated note, I should probably resolve this issue...
[Edited on 1-6-2015 by Tdep]
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j_sum1
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Hah! I had forgotten that was you!
Yeah, resolve that stuff.
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Zombie
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I don't want to ring the dinner bell but I'm sure you all know that LEO's of the world read these forums.
There's one thing I can't wrap my head around. IF glass-ware is NOT illegal there how on earth could they get a warrant?
That is a presumption of Guilt.
They can suspect anything, and everything under the sun but they have to have legal grounds for a warrant. NOT suspicion.
Either the cop lied or your jurisdiction has a rouge judge. For some reason I suspect both... Color me Jade (ed)
Glad to hear it went well, unless they gave you a lap top, and you're really posting from prison... Knock twice (if you are in prison), and we'll bust
you out. 
They tried to have me "put to sleep" so I came back to return the favor.
Zom.
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blogfast25
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| Quote: Originally posted by Zombie |
That is a presumption of Guilt.
They can suspect anything, and everything under the sun but they have to have legal grounds for a warrant. NOT suspicion.
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Kinda my point too...
What's a 'rouge' judge? Did you mean 'rogue'?
[Edited on 1-6-2015 by blogfast25]
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Loptr
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I think the war on drugs has really made that a mute point, unfortunately. All people can think of with the mention of a drug lab is the place blowing
up and children being affected by the toxic chemicals adsorbed on the walls.
I think the mere possibility would be more than enough for a warrant, which seems to be he case if the officer was telling the truth...
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blogfast25
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| Quote: Originally posted by Loptr | I think the war on drugs has really made that a mute point, unfortunately. All people can think of with the mention of a drug lab is the place blowing
up and children being affected by the toxic chemicals adsorbed on the walls.
I think the mere possibility would be more than enough for a warrant, which seems to be he case if the officer was telling the truth...
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Whose side are you on?
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Tdep
National Hazard
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I think it's important to note that the war on drugs in Australia is more a war on drug. Every second night there's an 'ice epidemic' story on the
news and inbetween the stories there's anti ice ads. I feel it would be easy to get a warrant for investigating meth labs in Australia. But the police
here are alright. So I've found, maybe it gets better with small country police forces too.
The glassware isn't illegal, and I don't mind if LEOs read this post of course. Investigate me anytime for meth, I really don't mind. Got to show off
my disulfur dichloride to more people, my friends are sick of me bragging to them.
Oh and Ned, I got the glassware from DesChem's ebay store. So it went through customs from China. The police did say something about 'importing
glassware from China', the glass did get to me by post though so they didn't sieze it which is nice.
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Zombie
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| Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25 | | Quote: Originally posted by Zombie |
That is a presumption of Guilt.
They can suspect anything, and everything under the sun but they have to have legal grounds for a warrant. NOT suspicion.
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Kinda my point too...
What's a 'rouge' judge? Did you mean 'rogue'?
[Edited on 1-6-2015 by blogfast25] |
No I meant rouge. Cross dresser Judge, ya know...
You're right I cain't spell fer crap.
They tried to have me "put to sleep" so I came back to return the favor.
Zom.
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Oscilllator
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Oh boy that lab looks just like one of those meth lab posters I used to see on the wall of my PE classroom. It's good to see that the police were nice
to you though, that bodes well for any interactions I might have as I too live in Australia(NSW). When I decided to buy glassware from china though I
emailed a law enforcement guy (experience detailed in another thread), so perhaps that's the only thing that prevented them from turning up to my
house!
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Tdep
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That's what my friends always say! This is the poster I remember from school, although the tagline gets a bit less threatning when you realise it's
just talking about sodium hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide and sulphuric acid haha
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Loptr
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I wouldn't want to take something that came out of that toilet, but I have absolutely no problem with taking something that was prepared using sodium
hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide, and sulfuric acid.
We should replace that picture of the bathroom with one of a bottle of medication. 
That bathroom looks disgusting.
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