400 POUNDS OF METH SEIZED IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY BUST; 5 HELD

GOOD HOPE -- Deputies wearing gas masks and space suit-like protective gear
seized nearly 400 pounds of powder, paste and liquid methamphetamine
Saturday in what they called the largest drug-lab bust this year in
Riverside County.

The drugs -- which have an estimated street value of nearly $17 million --
were "cooked" and processed in several mobile homes on about 10 acres in
rural Riverside County, about three miles west of Perris.

"This is what we call a super lab," said Riverside County Sheriff's Sgt.
Steve Rinks, who with about 25 other officers from the Special
Investigations Bureau, Drug Enforcement Agency and Western Riverside County
Narcotics Task Force raided the homes.

Five people were arrested.

"This is a complex operation producing high quantities of meth for
distribution back East," Rinks said. "This is not for someone's personal
use. It's a large, fairly sophisticated lab."

Authorities say methamphetamine from the West Coast has spread across the
country in recent years. In many cities, police say as much as 80 percent
of the speed in their areas is manufactured in places like the Inland Empire.

Last month, deputies raided a suspected drug lab in an exclusive Temecula
neighborhood flanked by a golf course. Deputies seized more than $150,000
in cash and enough chemicals and equipment to manufacture 100 pounds of meth.

"We find meth labs in motels, in high-priced homes, in million-dollar
ranches and dumpy ranches like this," Rinks said. "They could be all over,
and they are all over, unfortunately."

The lab discovered Saturday apparently was run by Mexican drug traffickers,
Rinks said, and represents the type of high-volume operation that feeds the
pipeline to the rest of the country.

Gases released during the production of methamphetamine are highly
corrosive and can be explosive, deputies said. The plywood walls inside the
shed used to cook the drugs were so deteriorated in places they crumbled
when touched.

Rinks said the contamination was so severe authorities destroyed several
sheds and dug up tons of earth from two pits where chemical byproducts had
been dumped for years.

"This is one of the worst cases of contamination I've ever seen," said
Rinks, who estimated the clean-up costs at $60,000. "If this was in a
residential area somewhere we'd be evacuating a whole city block."

Concern for children living on the property, as well as the lingering
environmental hazard, persuaded authorities to destroy the metal and wood
sheds.

As Riverside County Hazardous Materials, Environmental Health and fire
crews stood by, toddlers ran back and forth on the front porch of one of
the mobile homes.

A yard flanked by chicken coops was scattered with small cars, push toys
and a collection of colorful plastic dishes. About a rock's throw away,
deputies said they found a decrepit drug lab.

"The smell in that one was so strong when we cracked the door we just
backed off and let it air out a little bit," said Rinks, motioning to a
white mobile home trimmed in mint green set among eucalyptus trees.

Deputies arrested the owner of the property, Margarito Martinez-Garcia, 55,
of Good Hope; Jose Hernandez, 48, of Peula, Mexico; Jesus Cabera, 31, of
Mexico; and Fernando Orozco, 24, of Southgate for suspicion of
manufacturing methamphetamine, possession for sales and environmental charges.

Daniel Martinez, 26, of Los Angeles also was arrested in connection with
possession of a one-pound brick of marijuana and a small-caliber handgun,
Rinks said.

The rural area outside Perris is an ideal setting for methamphetamine labs,
deputies said, because of the seclusion and isolation. However, Rinks said
there is no real profile for a drug lab.