The wheelie bin in the backyard of the home at Speers Point looked innocent enough.
But the police conducting the raid in December last year had a sniffer dog and were determined to search everywhere.
And beneath the false bottom of the red-lidded bin they found 55 bottles containing a total of nearly 27 litres of an industrial chemical used as an alternative to deadly party drug GHB.
The solvent, known as 1,4-Butanediol, which is converted to GHB in the body, had a street value of $220,000, police said.
Inside the home, police arrested Amanda Long and a 49-year-old man and later charged the pair with supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug, which carries a maximum of life imprisonment.
As well as the 27 litres in the bin, police also uncovered text messages that showed Long had supplied another 11 litres of the chemical solvent over the previous three months.
As well as that, there was texts to show Long had supplied 180 grams of methamphetamine to her customer base over the same period.
When the pair appeared in Toronto Local Court the next day, the 49-year-old remained locked up, while Long was released on conditional bail.
Long moved to Cardiff and for a few months it seems she lived a law-abiding life.
But by February, and despite being on bail and facing serious charges, Long had gone back to supplying drugs, sourcing methamphetamine and 1,4-Butanediol from an up-line supplier and distributing it to her customers.
Long was represented by solicitor Donna Smith when she appeared in Newcastle Local Court last week via audio visual link from jail.
She pleaded guilty to seven drug supply charges, including two counts of supplying a large commercial quantity of 1,4-Butanediol.
A number of other charges will be taken into account when Long is ultimately sentenced in Newcastle District Court next year.
Long was living at a home at Quarry Road in Speers Point when police raided the property about 7am on December 8 last year.
Police found eight grams of methamphetamine, $2400 in cash and other items related to the supply of drugs inside the house.
But it was outside in the bin that they found the stockpile of 1,4-Butanediol.
Long told police at the scene that she had just woken up and had no idea about the drugs found at her house.
But testing on the straps of the cooler bags used to store the chemicals in the bin would later reveal that her DNA profile could not be excluded.
Police later examined Long's messages and found references to numerous drug supplies between September and her arrest, including supplying 180 grams of methamphetamine and 11 litres of 1,4-Butanediol.
While on bail, Long sent 20 strips of buprenorphine, an opiate replacement drug, to an address at Toowoomba.
But they were returned to sender and when police investigating Long and her drug supply network searched her house at Cardiff in April, they found the strips and Long was again arrested.
Her bail was revoked the next day in court and she has remained behind bars ever since.
Police had been intercepting her calls and text messages since February and had again captured Long supplying small quantities of methamphetamine and 1,4-Butanediol.
She spoke in an unsophisticated code and would refer to "food" and "drink" in "grams" and "millilitres" when talking about ice and the GHB alternative.
