HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-06/11 Written Communications - Skelly UT 5.25.19 Teri Figueroa
DEA raids `sophisticated' hash oil lab in Lemon Grove; sixth local bust in three weeks
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uthorities found this equipment inside a Lemon Grove warehouse they raided May 24.
Thursday. The Drug Enforcement Administration says housed a hash oil extraction lab.
Federal agents on Friday said a raid of an illegal and "sophisticated"hash oil laboratory in a Lemon Grove warehouse
earlier this week turned up$6.75 million of hash oil, and led authorities to shut down the street while they removed
flammable substances.
The raid,on Thursday, marked the sixth hash oil lab found in the region in three weeks,the Drug Enforcement
Administration said. Those labs include two operations that exploded,sending four people to the hospital with
serious burns,and one operation so large it was spread over three trailers on a rural North County property. DEA
agents and task forces have responded to 40 concentrated cannabis labs in the county over the last 12 months,
according to an affidavit in a federal complaint arising from the Lemon Grove raid.
Hash oil—said to be up to 90 percent more potent than traditional marijuana—is used in e-cigarettes,vaporizers
and edibles,as well as topical uses such as lotions and patches. It is extracted from marijuana plants using volatile
solvents,DEA spokeswoman Special Agent Kameron Korte said in a news release announcing the Lemon Grove
find.
These drums are among items the DEA said it found in a Lemon Grove warehouse that
authorities says housed an illegal hash oil laboratory. The raid in that city came after federal agents staked out the Lemon
Avenue warehouse for about a month, according to the probable cause statement authored by Special Agent James Gilles.
Picking through a large trash bin,agents turned up several suspicious items, including 11 five-gallon paint buckets
and seven pots containing a sticky substance the agent suspected was residue from making hash oil.
Gilles' statement also notes "excessive energy use"at the warehouse,sometimes over 10,000 kilowatt hours a month,
which is consistent with the amount of energy it takes to run a cannabis extraction operation. While staking out the
site,agents noticed two people who they said were routinely at the building, arriving in the morning and leaving in the
afternoon or evening. Authorities arrested the two men during the raid.
The DEA said the lab equi ment found at the warehouse was valued at more than $2 million.
1"Dangerous levels"of combustible gas forced authorities to air the building out for half an
hour before federal agents could search, Gilles' statement said. Korte said San Diego County hazmat crews hauled"large
quantities"of ethanol—toxic, flammable and colorless—from the site, and authorities closed Lemon Avenue for about six
hours. Last week,the DEA raided a large operation housed in three trailers in rural Warner Springs,seizing 14 guns
and arresting four people.