METH LAB BUST IN EAST OAKLAND YIELDS 6 ARRESTS

A police task force arrested six people and seized 26 pounds of
methamphetamine on an East Oakland street where components of the drug
were being cooked just yards from a high school, authorities said yesterday.

The major bust Tuesday night at two homes on the 4700 block of Ygnacio
Avenue came as a surprise to investigators, who found more
methamphetamine than they had expected at a clandestine drug lab
within view of Fremont High School.

``We didn't anticipate the seizure to be this large,'' said Ed Ching,
a special agent with the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. ``We
were also concerned, being so close to the school.''

The probe began in June when the West Contra Costa County Narcotic
Enforcement Team, investigating methamphetamine activity in Richmond,
determined that some of the drug may have come from Ygnacio Avenue in
Oakland.

About 7 p.m. Tuesday, undercover team officers, together with Oakland
police, California Highway Patrol officers and state agents, converged
on the area and set up surveillance.

Investigators were watching when Carlos Sanchez, 25, of Richmond,
allegedly sold two pounds of the drug, also known as ``crank'' or
``speed,'' to a plainclothes Alameda police officer in front of a home.

Sanchez was arrested on suspicion of selling methamphetamine. Officers
obtained a search warrant for the home and found one pound of the
drug, police said.

Meanwhile, police noticed two men standing at the top of a staircase
at an adjacent apartment.

Unsure whether the men were witnesses or in some way connected to the
drug lab, police walked up the stairs and soon detected ``a real
strong chemical smell that told them it was a processing meth lab,''
said state narcotic agent Leonard Picallo. ``It was a very nice surprise.''

Police found the apartment door partially open and saw in plain view
paraphernalia they recognized as of the kind used in the production of
speed.

In the home, police found 23 pounds of bagged meth, 10 pounds of
ephedrine --a precursor of the drug -- and nearly 150 small flasks.

Agents also found 2,000 empty bottles of Sudafed, an over-the-counter
cold medicine that contains pseudoephedrine, a chemical cousin of ephedrine.

The two men at the home were arrested on suspicion of making
methamphetamine. Three other people were arrested in the area. Their
names were unavailable.

Authorities were still calculating the street value of the seized
drugs yesterday.

1998 San Francisco Chronicle - Page A16

Checked-by: "Rich O'Grady"