Pubdate: Tue, 10 Feb 2004
Source: Free Press, The (MN)
Copyright: 2004 The Free Press
Contact:  http://www.mankatofreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2566
Author: Nicole Christiansen
Pubdate: 10 Feb 2004
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

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.
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