A drug dealer sold hundreds of thousands of doses of a cleaning agent with a high concentration of the drug GBL after buying it from an unwitting company that thought it was for commercial purposes.
Through eight separate orders over three and a half years, Justin Rankin, 36, paid nearly $100,000 for 2,214 gallons of the product, which the company imported from the United States. The operation is believed to have brought him an estimated $1.7 million in profits.
The industrial plastic mold cleaner, which is used during the plastic production process, contains 50-80% gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) – a fabric usually used recreationally to induce euphoria, enhance sexual activity and in combination with methamphetamine.
GBL is so potent that the standard dose is 1ml-3ml. It is sold in New Zealand for about $3-$5 per milliliter and the difference between the desired effect and an overdose can be a matter of milliliters.
Obviously Rankin sold the cleaner as GBL, although it also contains N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) – a solvent for surface treatment of textiles, resins and metal-coated plastics.
On Monday, before the start of a 10-day trial, Rankin pleaded guilty to five charges: supplying 1,798 liters of GBL, possession of 400 liters for supplies, possession of equipment capable of producing methamphetamine, possession of of methamphetamine for supplies and driving while disqualified.
Details of two separate investigations by Wellington Police were set forth in a summary of the facts, which showed he was first under suspicion in July 2019.
Police suspected his involvement in the production and sale of methamphetamine and the sale of GBL, leading to the launch of Operation Paris. Rankin’s home in Wellington was searched four months later.
delivered/police
Barrels and containers containing the GBL product were found during several raids as part of Operation Skipjack. Police at the time described the seizures as “huge”.
Police discovered a nearly empty 19-gallon barrel containing the cleaner, as well as syringes, a tube, a bottle and a measuring cup for decanting and dispensing, thousands of dollars worth of cash, meth and multiple products used to make meth.
Several months later, in June 2020, while on bail for violations arising from the search, Rankin was pulled over from a traffic stop after being disqualified from driving just two days earlier.
A search of his vehicle found numerous items that revealed his extensive drug operation – waybills, packing slips and a plastic label – indicating that he had purchased large quantities of the cleaner from a US supplier, through the New Zealand company.
Police also found syringes, scales, GBL, resealable bags, $6,000 in cash, methamphetamine and equipment to make methamphetamine. Hidden under a wooden panel was another $3,700 in cash.
Rankin’s cell phone records uncovered numerous reports of drug sales and identified several locations in the city where he had stored the GBL. They also revealed evidence from internet searches including ‘how do you make methamphetamine’ and ‘what is crystal meth made from? main ingredients”.
CCTV footage also showed Rankin visiting the storage locations.
Soon a joint investigation between police and customs – Operation Skipjack – started. Rankin’s home was searched again, along with several other Wellington locations.
This led to police finding 400 liters of GBL, the largest seizure of the drug in New Zealand history. Police called it “huge” at the time.
An excess of 20 kilograms of eutylone was also found, along with a clandestine methamphetamine lab.
The drugs had a combined street value of more than $5 million and a social harm index of more than $30 million.
ROSA WOODS/STUFF
Wendy Allison, Managing Director of KnowYourStuffNZ, and Samuel Andrews, Harm Reduction Project Advisor for the NZ Drug Foundation, talk about their drug testing (video first published in August 2019).
Around the same time, in November 2020, Dr. Paul Quigley, of Wellington Hospital’s emergency department, warned that the number of GBL overdoses had risen. Patients were admitted “deeply unconscious, may not be breathing and required life support,” he said.
Police initially said the GBL was from China, but the second investigation revealed Rankin had contacted the New Zealand company, which stuff chose not to name due to other legal proceedings, which subsequently imported the product from a US company.
Rankin said he was associated with Stoneybrook Construction and needed the product to clean his trucks. He was previously a director of the company, but it was deregistered in 2012.
A spokesman for the New Zealand company used as an importer said it was not guilty of any wrongdoing and was an innocent party to Rankin’s crimes.
“The imported product was a legitimate cleaner and Justin Rankin claimed to be a legitimate user of this product.”
When the company became aware of the misuse of the product in December 2020, it advised the supplier, he said.
“At that point, the product was immediately banned from export to New Zealand. We have fully assisted the police in all matters related to his conviction.”
Rankin will be sentenced in November. Several others allegedly involved in the drug operation have yet to appear in court.