The identification of synthetic drug laboratories based on the detection of precursors (2025)

The Netherlands is a small country but large in terms of production and trade in synthetic drugs, especially amphetamines and MDMA. In fact, Dutch criminals are global leaders, with networks and business practices all over the world. It's a billion dollar business, that forms a shadow economy with great appeal. Production of these drugs takes place at remote locations, in barns connected to farmhouses but also in residential areas where production locations are hidden in cellars and attics. In this study we developed a method that may be helpful to detect such illegal synthetic drug laboratories in suspected areas. An SPME sampler is used to passively collect air samples which are then analyzed for benzyl methyl ketone (BMK) and piperonyl methyl ketone (PMK), the precursors of respectively amphetamines and MDMA. The detection limit was 0.01 ng absolute for both compounds which means that BMK and PMK can be detected at concentrations comparable to other airborne VOCs with a sampling time of less than 10 min. Environmental conditions have only a limited influence on the uptake of BMK and PMK. In measurements in and around a simulated synthetic drug laboratory BMK and PMK could easily be detected inside the facility and even outside at distances up to 5 m. In a training laboratory facility of the police, BMK as well as PMK could be detected even while these compounds were no longer present in this facility. The identification of BMK and PMK was selective which was confirmed by measurements at 40 unsuspected locations where BMK and PMK were not detected in the presence of other compounds. The method can help to confirm the identification of illegal synthetic drug laboratories or a storage facility in suspected locations. While analysis in this study was done in the laboratory, analysis in practice may be possible using a mobile GC/MS system. [Author's abstract]
Highlights:
A method for the detection of airborne synthetic drug precursors BMK and PMK.
Two passive samplers were tested for the collection of the drug precursors.
The drug precursors could be detected at low concentrations in 10 min.
BMK and PMK could be detected outside lab facilities at distances up to 5 m.
The identification was selective for BMK and PMK.