City P lab busted | Northland News | Local News in Northland

Snow Campbell was hanging out his washing when he heard a thumping sound coming from his neighbour's property.

He looked up to see the armed offenders squad marching down the driveway. They ordered him to: "Get inside the house, shut your doors and lock your windows."

Mr Campbell found himself much closer than he would have wanted to a police bust of a working P lab on Kamo Rd, Whangarei, when officers stormed the property next door to the house he was staying in.

Large parts of Kensington were cordoned off, causing traffic chaos as students came out of school.

Whangarei police executed a search warrant on the address at 2.30pm yesterday and found a P lab in operation.

Two men, aged 31 and 44-years-old, were apprehended and taken to the Whangarei Police Station for questioning. About 30 police, including the armed offenders squad, were involved in the bust.

Once safely inside the house he was looking after for a friend, Mr Campbell noticed AOS members perched in a tree at the back of the property and on the opposite side of Kamo Rd, near Narnia Cafe.

He said a young couple under 30 lived at the house that was busted and they had two young children - a girl who was at kindergarten and a boy who was a toddler.

"They used to argue and smoke a lot but he talked to me about cars and seemed as good as gold. He was a painter and gave me some white paint free."

Mr Campbell said the woman's mother often came to the house to resolve the arguments but the family "kept to themselves".

When the AOS entered the home, Mr Campbell heard talking and yelling, but it was some time before the young man he knew was taken outside by police.

"They put him through a spray and stuck him into a paddywagon."

Mr Campbell said he was glad his friend whose house he was looking after wasn't there at the time but said: "I will have to tell her."

St John Ambulance attended the bust along with the fire service and their hazardous materials unit. Police staff and both alleged offenders were put through a decontamination process.

Officer in charge of Whangarei CIB Dene Begbie said the house would remain closed until an analysis of all items inside had been conducted.

That would determine if any methamphetamine was present.

The Auckland Clan Lab Team and ESR would carry out a forensic examination of the property and remove chemicals and substances.

Mr Begbie said the lab was found in a built-up residential area and was "not only dangerous for the people making it, but also for nearby residents". He said police wanted to hear from anyone who suspected drugs were being manufactured and supplied from any premises.

"Activity to look out for includes strong chemical smells, large stockpiles of empty containers and any unusual late-night activity."

Mohini Coppersmith lives three houses away on Simon St. She had been going outside to pick up her 13-year-old son from school when a "man wearing black", holding a gun, told her to get back inside her house.

Ms Coppersmith said she felt too scared to stay at her home last night. "It's better to be away and I don't want my son to be around things like that. I'm not happy about this, it shouldn't happen."

The owner of the busted property, Nelson Lattimer, said he had no knowledge of the operation and was "flabbergasted" when the Northern Advocate informed him his house was allegedly being used as a P lab. "They were supposed to be good tenants. We haven't had any problems before."

The couple were signed up with a property manager and had lived at the address for three years.

Mr Lattimer said he was concerned that children might have been exposed to drugs and said the people involved "didn't know what they were doing".

"As a landlord I'm left with a property that may need to be decontaminated. I'm not very happy," he said.