RAIDS SHUT DRUG "SUPER LABS"

A "super lab" in Wasco capable of churning out $2 million worth of
methamphetamines every three to six weeks has been shut down, the Kern
County Sheriff's Department announced Tuesday.

The Wasco raid, and another Monday night, capped a nearly three-year
investigation. The two raids shut down two labs and netted drugs, money,
guns and cars.

Eleven people were arrested, according to authorities.

Overall, the investigation resulted in six labs being shut down.

Sheriff's Cmdr. Hal Chealander, flanked by officials from the FBI, the
federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the state Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement, said it was the most comprehensive investigation in Kern County
of a multi-state drug organization.

That organization was headed by two families, the Bucio and Cardenas
families, who allegedly manufactured methamphetamine in the rural reaches of
Kern County, ran vast amounts of the drug to Texas and funnelled money back
to Mexico, Chealander said.

Chealander said "$100 million would not be an outrageous figure" for the
street value of the drug manufactured by the organization in Kern County
during the last two years and eight months.

Last Wednesday, authorities hit a suspected lab at 11625 Rowlee Road where
four people were arrested. Monday night, they raided another suspected lab
on Sandrini Road near Wheeler Ridge Road where two people were arrested.

The street value of the drug, after it had been diluted with other
ingredients and sold to regular users, is about $100 a gram, Chealander
said.

At the stage of manufacture, he said, the drug sells for about $5,000 to
$8,000 a pound or about $17 a gram.

The Central Valley, with Kern County as a major component, "is a source
region for methamphetamine," confirmed James M. Maddock, FBI special agent
in charge of the Sacramento division, which includes Kern County.

Chealander said ranch foremen rent out space for labs (a shack was used at
the Rowlee Road site) for about $3,000 to $10,000 a cooking operation.

Ranch owners frequently are unaware their property is being used, Chealander
said.

About 150 agents and officers swooped down last Wednesday on the Rowlee Road
laboratory and nine other places in Kern and Tulare counties, Chealander
said.

"We surprised them," he said.

The bust came as the Rowlee lab was manufacturing 24 pounds of
methamphetamine. The liquid stage had been completed and the next stage was
to mix other chemicals to turn it into powder, he said.

Arrested at the Rowlee road lab were Fernando Bucio, 28, of Santa Ana;
Marillo Bucio Banderos, 22, of Fresno; Fortunato Vargas, 28, of Bakersfield;
and Vicente Ayla Cortez, 46, of Wasco, reportedly the ranch foreman who
rented out the shack, Chealander said.

Those arrested at other sites included Gabriel Bucio, 28, of Woodville and
Francisco Lopez, 38, of Bakersfield, whom Chealander identified as "very
important members of the organization."

Also arrested were Marvin Rios, 29, of Visalia, Jose Cardenas, 27, of
Farmersville and Angelica Grimaldo, 19, of Bakersfield, officials said.

On that one day, officials seized the liquid chemicals at the Rowlee lab,
1.5 pounds of methamphetamine, $40,000 in cash, 11 rifles, including an
assault rifle, five handguns and eight vehicles.

Texas authorities arrested four others connected with the Bucio-Cardenas
organization on Friday, and authorities in Kern County arrested two people
Monday night at a Sandrini Road lab: Rafael Palomares, 41, and Gonzalo
Medina, 39, the latter being a ranch foreman.

Still, Chealander said, the arrests and seizures are just "the tip of the
iceberg."

Some 945 laboratories have been raided in the last two years in the Central
Valley between Merced and Kern counties, reported Bob Pennell, supervising
agent of the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.

He noted several of the Kern County labs were "industrial sized," capable of
manufacturing more than 20 pounds at a time.

Checked-by: Don Beck