MOBILE LABS ARE A TREND IN METH-MAKING

KASOTA -- As the only police officer in Kasota, Mike Carson has a tough job.

It's even tougher the days he finds methamphetamine labs in the town of
680, which he said is well known for its drugs. Those days haven't been so
rare for him the last few months.

Carson was following what he thought was a drunken driver early on Oct. 24.
When he stopped the car, he could smell ammonia.

Coffee filters, aluminum foil and a box with hoses coming out of it were
found on the front seat.

Besides in houses and abandoned buildings, methamphetamine labs have been
found in area woods, ditches, cemeteries, fish houses, gravel pits and
cars, just to name a few.

"Any place they can do it, they'll do it," Carson said.

The mobile meth lab is one of the latest trends in meth making, officials
said. Especially since the advent of the "cold" or "Nazi" method of
manufacturing - in which anhydrous ammonia and sodium metal or lithium are
used - meth labs have become easier to move. It's called a "Nazi" method
because some German soldiers were given meth during World War II.

"You can fit a lab in a large duffel bag," said Ben Rittmiller, commander
of the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force.

Rittmiller said there isn't a huge difference between a mobile lab and a
permanently placed lab.

He said lots of labs found in houses and apartments probably were mobile at
one time, too.

Usually Rittmiller sees components of a lab or stages of meth-making in
cars, "not ... an active cook in the vehicle," he said.

But many meth ingredients are caustic and flammable, making it dangerous to
be around anything that could cause a spark.

Carson has seen many drivers engaging in risky behaviors while carting
around meth labs.

"These guys are smoking cigarettes and you name it," he said. "They're just
not thinking."

Some of these situations end in crashes, whether they result from a
cigarette's hot ash landing in the flammable meth mixture and startling the
driver or just from driving while under the influence of a narcotic.

"We tend not to hear about those accidents probably as much as they occur,"
Rittmiller said.

If the car lab that Carson found in October somehow had caught fire, the
explosion could have been massive.

Although the lab materials were in a box about the size of a case of beer,
the driver was hauling an 8-quart crock pot full of meth-producing solution
in his front seat.

Carson said there are a lot of drugs in Kasota and many meth manufacturers
everywhere. Cookers are teaching others how to make meth, which doesn't
make his job any easier.

"We catch one, and it seems like somebody else falls into their spot," he said.