TLDWTR; By accident, chance and a whole lot of other things I went from a naive guy who thought growing a few plants in my wardrobe was a bit loose to seeing millions of dollars worth of drugs being thrown away, million dollar drug transactions, police corruption, an insight into the people above the gangs and of course the lifestyle these people live.
I was just an average tradie who struck up a pretty good relationship with one of the boys I worked with. We had similar interests he liked a bit of pot and moved a fair bit, liked his cars, girls, gaming and partying. He always had a fair bit of money and I always assumed it was from the weed. We became trusted friends.
We were out cruising one sunny afternoon and his Dad called him up in a panic, I had only meet his Dad a few times but he insisted his Son come over to his house straight away. Being too far away to drop me back at my car he told his old man I was with him and his Dad said to bring me with him. Something had happened but he didn't want to say over the phone.
On arrival I stay in the car while the two talk. My friend returns and says shits gone wrong, gets me to jump out and come for a walk. His Dad lived on a few hundred acres in literally he middle of nowhere. He had had he police show up earlier in the day looking for someone. Old mate thought it was a search warrant, and while his other son dealt with the cops at the front house, old mate ran out back to the shed in a panic and proceeded to throw some meth that he was letting people cook up and store at his onto the ground in the woods out the back of his shed.
What I then saw I will never forget, I got walked out back where I saw a pile of meth on the ground, like, he hadn't even managed to spread it out or make any other effort to disguise it, it stuck out like dogs balls and was a fucking lot. Not having too many other options I helped pick up what we could. I then walked with them to put the remains inside. We walked in through the shed, not your average shed but a decent sized one that had seperate rooms, probably 30m x 10m with 4 bays. I walked through one room which had a plethora of glassware still set up that looked at home in breaking bad. We walked into a random cupboard and down a trap door into a 12m wide underground bunker which was separated into 3 rooms that were being used to grow copious amounts of weed(not going to lie, I use to smoke a bit of pot, so kinda enjoyed that part. It was well set up well running on a hydroponic set up with a veg room, 2 growing rooms and a sections for drying).
What was sitting on the ground were 8 42 litre containers which were about 3/4 full of meth. His Dad had thrown the other three out the back on the ground.
I went from being a relatively naive person into one who quickly understood that I could be in a world of fucking shit at the drop of a dime, and if the people who he was letting cook up at his showed up I would probably be killed. This was close on ten years ago now, I remember it like yesterday.
After helping sort out what we could we went home, I spent two nights awake regardless of how much pot I smoked, it turned out I had absorbed a fair bit of shit through my hands when picking up the meth with no gloves, I wasn't the only one.
We ended up going to work during that time though. His old man was spoked and wanted everything gone. We set up 2 grow rooms at his to move what we could of the weed to, I watched in pain as half the crop got thrown out as there wasn't enough room, there was not interest in turning the prem buds it into hash or anything that could be sold, get it the fuck out was his old mans message, if it doesn't fit, it goes in the river. There were 52 plants in total that we moved from the shed. Threw away a similar amount.
Mates dad ended up in losing fairly a big cut to the syndicate who he was letting cook at his. I later found out he was getting 50k - 80k a cook depending on how long the cook took, this was reduced to 5k and he was lucky that the heads of the syndicate agreed that him throwing the shit away was the best thing to do, they searched his house to see if he was knocking anything off and concluded that it was a true turn of events,however, his shed was destined to be a meth lab for as long as they wanted. On the plus side, he kept his life.
This was close on 10 years ago now, from what I took from interactions over the next year or so kgs were being sold for $200,000+, ounces of good meth were $10,000 - $12,000. At a guess I would say the pile of meth I helped pick up was worth well over $15 million. At $700 to $1000 a gram there was so much left over in the ground that I probably could have bought a house if I knew how to clean and process it,The remainder was close to 70 -80 million, if not more.
I stuck around for a bit, I lived with his son and ended up being trusted and meeting some pretty heavy characters and seeing a side of life many other won't ever see. Through conversations and situations I was privy to I got a pretty decent view of how the underworld works in Australia. These were the guys who funded gangs, not a small gang, but one of the biggest gangs throughout Australia. The money involved was ridiculous. The gambling, the partying, the lifestyle and the girls were fantastic.
One thing I learned is the corruption in Australia is ridiculous. I watched serving police (males and females) smoke meth and partake in orgies, I knew of people who went missing to never be seen again through information passed on by police, I was there when phone calls were made warnings of raids that were happening on dealers that we knew. It blew my fucking mind.
I ended up chasing some mining work on the West Coast and left the East Coast. His Dad ended up getting raided and done for a shitloads of things, my friend was always a showboater and had to have the nicest car, girls and things, it was all about image to him. He has spent his late 20's in prison with another 5 years to go. Something about a labourer driving a brand new Range Rover doesn't add up.
Have I told anyone this story, only a few good mates who look at me funny, it wasn't a period of time I am incredibly proud of. I know if someone told me this I would look at the, sideways and say "you full of shit bastard". So I sit here and smile when people showboat and talk shit.
I'm a Dad now with three kids, and look back on this time with a bit of regret. I gambled and partied away well over 6 figures which I could have put towards them, I earn ok money now but still have daily bills that I wish I was in a position to click my fingers and they disappear. I have seen how easily money can be made if you know the right people, I still have many acquaintances in the game who I could call on if I wanted some quick cash, but fuck that man, I've got my kids and my health which is all I need.