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RCMP seek ecstasy lab's branch plant
October 22, 2007
Josh Wingrove
Staff Reporter
A drug lab dismantled by RCMP Saturday was just one branch of a larger production line, which investigators haven't found yet.
RCMP found "well over" 100 kilograms of ecstasy – in pills and powder form – at the pill-pressing lab inside the garage of a house on Pipers Green Ave., near Brimley Rd. and Finch Ave. E.
The premises were raided after a van was pulled over and three arrests made on Friday. Two more men were arrested at the house.
Drug rings separate production phases so that one bust doesn't ruin an entire operation. The powder was being made elsewhere; "the challenge now is we have to find (that) drug lab," said Sgt. Brent Hill.
Finding a powder lab is a harder task than it once was, Hill said. Back when drug lords were making the stimulant from scratch, it took a series of chemical reactions to turn sassafras oil into MDMA (street name ecstasy).
One of the chemical reactions smelled intensely of black licorice, making a lab easy to spot.
Now drug makers prefer to import MDP2P, a chemical compound that needs only one small reaction to produce powdered ecstasy.
RCMP dismantling of the labs they find can cost as much as $100,000. Typically, up to 40 officers secure the premises and may order nearby homes evacuated.
Police then ventilate the labs, which are usually sealed to prevent suspicious smells from escaping, before carting away the chemicals.
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source:
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/269072
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