Dramatic footage of an alleged major drug trafficker's arrest offers a rare glimpse inside a suburban meth lab.
The 37-year-old is among 33 people arrested as police try to hose down escalating home invasions, kidnappings and firebombings related to efforts to control the supply and manufacture of prohibited drugs in Sydney.
The crackdown on Asian crime gangs in recent months came after a secretive agency lifted the lid on groups controlling lucrative cannabis markets on Australia's east coast.
Drugs worth more than $10 million had been seized during the raids in recent months, police said on Friday.
Three methylamphetamine clandestine laboratories were found in the southwestern Sydney suburbs of Canley Vale and Fairfield and the regional NSW area of Mollyan.
Images of the Fairfield lab show acetone sitting on the same shelf as a beer can and a beaker of meth next to shrivelled mandarins.
In another lab, pots and pans appearing to have been used in meth production were located before police peering into a downlight void found a hidden gun, magazine and ammunition.
On Thursday, weeks after the discoveries, heavily armed police smashed their way into a Liverpool unit and arrested the 37-year-old man.
He is accused of being one of the major players responsible for drug supply within the syndicate and faces commercial drug supply and gun charges.
"These were dangerous criminals capable of violent crime and the message today is simple: there is no place for this sort of violence on our streets," Organised Crime Squad commander Peter Faux said.
The raids were conducted in partnership with the powerful NSW Crime Commission, which acts covertly to investigate organised and other serious crime.
The head of the commission's operational arm recently said its monitoring of drug markets found Asian crime gangs were heavily involved in cannabis production, including quickly constructed greenhouses on farms and hydroponic operations in the suburbs.
"The large-scale indoor hydroponics in southwestern Sydney were all Vietnamese-based and now we're finding that the large outdoor greenhouse operations are Vietnamese-based as well," Darren Bennett told a parliamentary inquiry into cannabis regulations earlier in December.
Historically, powerful groups linked to the Italian mafia continued to operate in the Riverina while bikie gangs were "certainly heavily involved" in cannabis, he said.
Groups were also using national parks and public places on the NSW north coast, home to Australia's hippie capital Nimbin.
"Every level of organised crime has a foothold in cannabis production and distribution," Mr Bennett said.
Changing views towards drug policy have helped Legalise Cannabis Party ride a wave of support into the upper houses of Victoria, NSW and Western Australia, as it eyes a Senate seat in 2025.
But the crime commission worries about what happens to industrial-scale producers if legalisation of the drug occurs.
"We are concerned about any change of the laws if it makes it easier for organised crime to produce and distribute the product," commissioner Michael Barnes said.
