Four people were arrested this week in Sandy Springs, accused of running an apartment meth lab that could generate at least $7.1 million worth of the drug on the street.
The arrests were made at an apartment complex at 6900 Roswell Road. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, with help from the Sandy Springs Police Department, seized 67 pounds of crystal meth and 15 gallons of liquid meth that could be converted into about 59 additional pounds of crystal meth, the DEA said.
John Murphy, DEA assistant special agent in charge, said agents dressed in protective gear arrived at the apartment Monday afternoon to find strong vapors from meth boiling on a stove, the presence of flammable solvents and candles. The potentially explosive conditions - the open flames and solvents - forced agents to retreat until the threat of an explosion was reduced.
In an interview, Murphy said more meth conversion labs are showing up in metro Atlanta in homes and apartments. He said liquid meth is being produced in large quantities in Mexico and then transported to the metro area to be converted to crystal meth for street distribution.
Murphy called the increasing presence of meth production labs in apartment complexes “a reckless disregard for human life,” given the threat of fire and explosion.
The four people arrested at the scene included Juan Francisco Martinez-Nunez, Salvador Ivan Alonso-Mendoza, Diego Ivan Parra and Ismael Martinez-Anallo.
They were charged with meth trafficking and reckless endangerment, and booked into the Fulton County jail.
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