A resort-style property in the Gold Coast hinterland was secretly used as a sophisticated, large-scale drug making operation, a court has heard.
A 39-year-old man and a 31-year-old man were sentenced to jail terms in Brisbane on Thursday for their roles in the clandestine drug production operation in the Currumbin Valley.
The Supreme Court heard the Tomewin Mountain Road site resembled a resort and contained a number of bungalows and other buildings that were hidden from view of the road.
Crown prosecutor Maita Aylward said police who raided it in June 2011 found no tourists but instead a large amount of chemicals and equipment used for making methylamphetamine and MDMA.
She said the four-month production could have yielded up to three kilograms of methylamphetamine and 50,000 ecstasy tablets, with a combined street value of more than $1 million.
Dane James Marriott, 39, and Matthew John Smith, 31, pleaded guilty on Thursday to unlawfully producing amphetamines and possessing chemicals and equipment used to produce amphetamines.
Smith also pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a handgun with the serial number defaced.
The court heard three other men have been sentenced over the clandestine laboratory including the ringleader, who was jailed for six-and-a-half years last year.
Marriott and Smith were only involved in the final stages of the production, Ms Aylward said.
Justice Glenn Martin sentenced Marriott to three years' imprisonment and Smith to two years' jail, saying their level of criminality was lower than some of their co-offenders but still warranted jail time.
"It was, I think fair to say, a large-scale, highly sophisticated operation, almost a factory," he said.
Both men have served time in pre-sentence custody and are expected to be released on parole later this year.
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