Canisters, surgical masks and test tubes: a gigantic laboratory where more than two tonnes of ecstasy or amphetamines were produced was dismantled in Valencia (east), Spanish police announced on Wednesday.
The operation resembles the famous series “Breaking Bad”: the investigation began at the end of 2023, when investigators discovered a laboratory located in the suburbs of Valencia, in a “wooded and mountainous area”, according to the press release from the police.
By observing the comings and goings, the police understood that the place was used as a laboratory for manufacturing synthetic drugs: strong chemical smell, excessive transport of plastic canisters, wearing of industrial type masks and change of clothes when leaving the building …
Thousands of liters of chemicals
On January 17, investigators made twelve arrests and seized “1,900 liters of MDMA, 1,000 liters of other chemical substances used to make ecstasy and 1,000 liters of chemical residue.”
In the laboratory, they found “decanters, towers, furnaces, test tubes, precision balances, personal protective equipment…”
According to the police and based on the quantity of liquid searched, the traffickers could produce more than two tonnes of amphetamines.
Of the twelve people arrested, four were imprisoned.
In addition to the charges of crimes against public health and membership in a criminal group, traffickers are being prosecuted for crimes against the environment after having released chemical waste into nature after processing the drug.