By: Michael O’Farrell
Investigative Correspondent
THIS is the Dublin warehouse where industrial quantities of head shop legal highs are mixed before being sold at mark-ups of up to 1,000pc.
Shipped by the tonne and packaged in what look like fertiliser bags are the raw-ingredient chemicals that will go into the products sold as ‘legal highs’ in Jim Bellamy’s chain of head shops.
But as an Irish Mail on Sunday investigation has uncovered, this ramshackle scene at a warehouse in Dublin’s Harold’s Cross is emblematic of an operation in which young – sometimes drunk or otherwise intoxicated – workers mixed batches of products such as Hurricane Charlie or Snow, using takeaway food cartons to measure quantities of raw chemicals.
The premises is now listed as the headquarters of Abacus Security Systems and Retail Products Ltd – a security firm registered just a month ago by Bellamy and an associate.
But prior to the legal-high ban, this ‘factory’ was churning out products, often on a 24-hour basis.
So bad was the stench for local residents that complaints were made to TDs and Dublin City Council about the facility, which was raided by gardaà six months ago.
Insiders who spoke to the MoS confirmed that the Harold’s Cross ware-house – situated at the end of a quiet residential street and adjoining the grounds of Our Lady’s Hospice – has been in operation for a year mixing tonnes of mind-altering products for sale at a mark up of up to 1,000pc.
And despite claims that legal highs are safe with their production carefully controlled, the truth – as told by those involved – paints a frightening picture.
According to insiders, untrained staff used a large open room as a mixing lab. Watched over by a supervisor, the staff used Tupperware containers and tinfoil takeaway food cartons to measure out quantities of raw chemicals.
‘They wore no protective clothing, no gloves. They had no chemical training of any kind,’ said an insider.
‘The stuff was mixed up in old takeaway containers. It was very badly labelled. It was dirty and damp; there could have been all sorts of bacteria.’ And despite scientific-sounding boasts about products, the reality was far different. ‘Each new batch made was completely different and it was never controlled,’ said one former employee. ‘You could have one lad in the mixing room, stoned or drunk, throwing in something for the hell of it thinking it was fun. Well, it wasn’t fun for the people who took it.’ ‘God knows what was in some of the stuff or in what doses,’ said another insider who witnessed the process. ‘They were coming into the shops suicidal and very, very paranoid, saying what did you give me, what did you give me?’ Now, angered by the way in which the health of customers was endangered, some Nirvana insiders have spoken of their disgust.
‘All these people have been using this stuff for three or four years now and they are just guinea pigs for people making a fortune,’ said an insider. ‘They come in and say this is deadly, no after-effects but it hasn’t been tested or controlled – nobody knows.’ Meanwhile, the MoS can revealthat Bellamy and his company is facing prosecution. The Irish Medicines Board (IMB) confirmed that it had initiated a district court prosecution against Bellamy and his companies, Harmony the Products Ltd and Simple Imports Ireland Ltd. Although the IMB did raid the Harold’s Cross warehouse in the past two weeks, the case does not relate to the secret mixing facility.
In a statement, the IMB said Bellamy had appeared in Dublin Metropolitan District Court 50 on May 10 ‘in relation to charges for breaches of medicinal products regulations’.
The case is due to return to court on June 14. The penalties available to the court under the charges include a fine and a prison term.
THE ABOVE STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON 23/05/2010 IN THE IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY. Author, Michael O’Farrell, Investigative Correspondent.
By: Michael O’Farrell
COMPLETE with freshly tailored shirts, a heavy gold wristband and a spanking new Jaguar XF, the Scottish man who dominated the head shop boom in Ireland is now preparing to relocate his business to Bulgaria.
The Government may have banned many of the most destructive and profitable legal highs that Jim Bellamy’s Nirvana head shop chain brought to Ireland but the ever-resourceful Scot is now thought to be transferring elements of his considerable empire to Bulgaria.
The Irish Mail on Sunday has established that Bellamy has travelled to Bulgaria since the Government banned much of his shops’ product line almost two weeks ago.
And he is understood to be preparing to set up at least some elements of his multimillion-euro drugs empire there.
The link to Bulgaria is understood to involve key associates – both Irish and Eastern European – who were involved in the Nirvana head shop chain in Ireland and who already have close links to the Balkan state.
Recognising the strength of the Eastern market, Bellamy had in recent months already established a partnership with a Russian entrepreneur to open a Russian head shop in Dublin’s Talbot Street.
This week, that shop had closed but a Nirvana store remained open, with staff using a buzzer to monitor entry.
Bellamy refused to comment when asked by the MoS about the move to Bulgaria. Despite his success, precious little is actually known about Bellamy. Only a handful of staff were aware that two years ago their boss was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given just two months to live.
He continued to work obsessively and in the past year was given the all-clear, though he now takes food in liquid form through a tube in his stomach.
Staff said Bellamy does not use his own legal highs and prefers to get through his long working days with brandy coffees.
Although he has a home in the wealthy Dublin suburb of Killiney, Bellamy has not lived there in recent months, preferring to remain in the city centre. On Friday evening, he was spotted relaxing with a female friend in Slattery’s pub on Capel Street.
THE ABOVE STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON 23/05/2010 IN THE IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY. Author, Michael O’Farrell, Investigative Correspondent.
