AN Oldham man has been jailed for five years after admitting running a drugs factory from a house in Ashton under Lyne.

Thirty-one-year-old Mridyul Kanti Das of Huddersfield Road was sentenced after pleading guilty to the attempted manufacture of LSD.

The sentence will run consecutively to a previous conviction.

In a separate trial, the 31-year-old was sentenced to nine years and four months in prison at Liverpool Crown Court on 14 May 2007, after he was found to be producing vodka illegally and in possession of firearms. The illegal distillery and a firearm were discovered at an industrial unit on Manchester Road in Oldham in August 2005. A further firearm was then recovered from his home address.

Das had previously worked in pharmaceuticals, until he was dismissed from his job in the summer of 2006.

In November that year, officers from GMP's Serious Crime Division received information that Das was purchasing chemicals from a chemical company in St Helens. These chemicals, when mixed with other chemicals could be used to manufacture Class A drugs such as LSD.

Further investigation uncovered that Das had been using false letterhead paper purporting to be from a Rochdale fuel company, to order the chemicals. On Friday 1 December a shipment of the chemicals were delivered to an address on Huddersfield Road in Oldham.

Officers saw him load the boxes into his car. He then drove to a house on Anglesey Road in Ashton-under-Lyne, where he unloaded the boxes and took them inside.

A couple of weeks later, Das received a second shipment of chemicals at the Oldham house, and again took them to Anglesey Road.

The next day, 14 December 2006, officers executed warrants at the addresses, as well as at Das's home on Huddersfield Road, where he was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the production of Class A drugs.

The unstable nature of the chemicals meant that they had to be handled with extreme caution. Officers wearing full protective suits searched the addresses and cordons were put in place around some of the scenes to preserve evidence and to ensure that any risk to the community was removed.

At the Anglesey Road house, officers found a tabletop laboratory in the cellar, consisting of scales, flasks, buckets and pipes, as well as residue chemicals and a recipe to produce LSD.

Detective Inspector John Ogdon from GMP drugs unit, said: "We will not tolerate the use or production of drugs on the streets of Greater Manchester.

"The chemicals that Das was using in his 'factory' could potentially have been extremely dangerous if not handled properly. As soon as we became aware of the possibility that they were being stored with the intention of creating drugs, we had to act swiftly, for the protection of the local community.

"Das was using his knowledge from the chemical industry to create illegal, dangerous substances. Not only in the production of illegal drugs, but also fraudulently producing vodka, for which he was arrested in August 2005."