Sean O’Shea – a cleaning business owner who specialises in the decontamination of houses that have been used to cook meth and other drugs. Picture: Tom Huntley
Published News Story – Sunday Mail – February 2, 2019
- Huge secret drug lab found in Morphett Vale
- Adelaide meth lab: Clandestine drug laboratory found in Croydon
- South Australians dob in drug dealers in thousands of reports
- Clandestine backyard drug labs are rising
Sean O’Shea cleans houses destroyed by a methamphetamine tidal wave that has swamped South Australia for the past eight years.
Mr O’Shea runs a cleaning business qualified to deal with the aftermath of meth cooking in homes and says the problem is “snowballing”.
His company, O’Shea’s Organisation, now cleans up to three drug houses a week and is showing no signs of slowing up.
Sadly, Mr O’Shea told The Advertiser he was warned by West Australian police officers a decade ago that meth use and production wreaking havoc in WA would soon find a new home in Adelaide.
“They were explaining how bad it was at a conference in Victoria after we got our licence for methamphetamine remediation,” Mr O’Shea said.
“Even back then they said: ‘There’s a tsunami wave coming and it’s coming your way’.
“We didn’t have a job for about two years, but then we got one, we got two, and they started rolling in after that.”
Mr O’Shea, 49, said officers described being overrun by meth – or ice as it is commonly known – and forecast the same, if not worse, for SA.
Last year, police busted the two biggest meth clandestine laboratories in state history.
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Almost 40 clandestine labs were detected last financial year with the majority – 15 – uncovered in the western suburbs.
“This stuff is so dangerous, it’s the new asbestos,” Mr O’Shea said.
“Cleanliness goes out the window, you wouldn’t eat a sandwich off what these people use.”
Mr O’Shea said ice production sucked the “homely feel” out of properties.
“We rip the carpet out, rip the underlay out, all the furnishings, all the kids’ toys with a full decontamination. Even the airconditioning has to go,” he said.
“And these are just the houses we find.”
Mr O’Shea said a meth lab found at Bellevue Heights last July was an $800-per week rental.
He said it had a swimming pool, tennis court and roses along the footpath, but was used to cook commercial amounts of ice.
“The tenant had moved out and the bottom of fridges and freezers were corroded,” he said.
“It was tested and the meth levels went through the roof.”
Another property at Underdale was so contaminated it took weeks to clean.
“You’re in a contaminated, toxic environment because all your carpets and lounge suites just absorb meth,” he said.
“People start getting sick, have a runny nose and sore eyes. There’s all different sorts of symptoms and people don’t even know why their crook.”
Mr O’Shea said workers wear biohazard suits and respirator masks for protection against the deadly toxins.
“People get so addicted they just don’t care about the cleaning, they lose the plot and looking after their kids or anything else goes out the window,” he said.
“Sadly, we see that a lot when people were cooking with the kids at the property.”
Last October, police uncovered a secret lab – just 900m from a primary school – on Marston Dr at Morphett Vale on October 7.
They seized 11kg of methamphetamine worth $5.5 million. A further 120kg of powder was found and is awaiting analysis. Its value is unknown.
Then a “super lab” capable of producing hundreds of millions of dollars of meth was shut down on October 28 just as it was being expanded at Croydon.
Officers seized hundreds of kilograms of precursor chemicals, powders and acids as well as industrial-scale laboratory equipment from the Scotia St property.
Another industrial-scale meth lab linked to Croydon was found at Kilkenny on October 31.
In total, five men and a woman were arrested and charged.
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