Operation Chamform

By Claire Haynes 3/2/06

Last Easter, the National Crime Squad busted an illicit drug lab based inside unremarkable portacabins on an industrial estate in Liverpool. What they found inside was a production process which was capable of making GBP1 million worth of amphetamine in a week.

Operation Chamform took out an entire amphetamine operation from producer through to street dealer. Officers believe the five men involved were on the way to producing and selling 60 kg of the drug, which had a street value of GBP7.5 million. It was also the first time that industrial-sized pressure reaction vessels, used for producing the drug on a large scale in Europe, had been found in Britain.

Det Ch Supt (acting) Nick Lewis, from the National Crime Squad, said: 'There is very little in the way of illicit drugs produced in the UK. Heroin and cocaine and even ecstasy - the majority is produced or prepared for production abroad. So, obviously, when we get a hint that production is underway [in the UK] we do take that seriously.'

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