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on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Tuesday, September 4, 2018

CDS Mega Meth Lab Busted on the BC Border

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: ZETA


                      From the Sinaloa Cartel, the mega narco-laboratory in the middle of the forest.
La Rumorosa, a notoriously treacherous stretch of Mex #2 or Mex #20 (Toll portion) which runs just south of and parallel to  the US/Mexican Border in the state of Baja California.

By: Ines Garcia Ramos

In one year, the mega laboratory found by the Army in La Rumorosa, could have manufactured up to 73 tons of methamphetamine, which translates into sales of up to $481,000,000 US dollars in the United States. With first-class industrial equipment and thousands of liters of chemical precursors, it is one of the Sinaloa Cartel's main investments to dominate the synthetic drugs market in the United States, whose demand continues to rise.

The largest methamphetamine laboratory that has been located in Baja California belonged to the Sinaloa Cartel. It was not within the urban sprawl, but in the middle of trees and pines, in the ejido José María Pino Suarez, near the towns of La Rumorosa and El Hongo in Tecate.

According to calculations of the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena), this laboratory installed in the open, could produce up to 73 tons of methamphetamine during the year it operated. This represents six tons per month.
In financial terms, these 73 tons of crystal meth , also known as ice or glass, could be sold in the US, United States for up to $ 481,000,000 US  dollars, considering the cost of  $3,000 dollars per pound that reaches the best quality of methamphetamine on the black market in California.

Security Corporations identify the area where the laboratory was located, as part of the territory that in Tecate controls the Sinaloa Cartel and which is mainly concentrated in La Rumorosa and extends through Ensenada to Ojos Negros and Vizcaíno.

The control of the Sinaloa Cartel includes both the transfer of drugs to the United States and the production of drugs.

The official report of the Army indicates that military elements, specifically the unit belonging to the 67th Infantry Battalion of San Quintín from the operative "El Pinalito", found the laboratory when carrying out ground operations in the area. Certainly, weeks ago, walkers from the wooded area of ​​Baja California, would have alerted the Army of the presence of strange men in the area around where they would find the clandestine laboratory.

Initially, the military operation focused on reconnaissance from air units, but the forested area hid the facilities, so they chose to travel the area on foot. ( This area is very rough arid desert scrub "forest").

That is how they found the laboratory with the capacity to produce up to 200 kilograms a day of the synthetic drug known as crystal and with more than 6,000 liters in chemical precursors and several kilograms of other chemical substances.

Some of the military elements that participated in the initial operation, narrate that the gases generated by the combination of caustic chemicals caused, not only caused a strong smell in the surroundings, but even came to cause irritation in the skin and eyes, without being in contact with them.

On the other hand, a few kilometers from the border with the United States, precisely at the height of Jacume, California , # 9 just north of the US/Mx Border  is one of the main areas for the trafficking of people and narcotics between Baja California and California, the location of the laboratory was strategic for the transfer to that area. country. Actually, there are two Jacume communities, one on either side of the border in a relatively rural area with clandestine border crossings.

Colonel José Manuel Nolasco Fonseca, commander of the 67th Infantry Battalion, explained that the installation of a laboratory so close to the United States represents not only a saving in the costs and times of transfer of the drug for the criminal organization, but also decreases the risk that the drugs are seized.

Equipment with a value of more than three million pesos:

From kilometer 83 of the free federal highway Tijuana-Mexicali, at the entrance to the "Bosque del Cóndor", the military units advanced 15 kilometers on the main road that leads to ranches and tourist attractions, ie campgrounds etc.


About 100 meters from this dirt road, the laboratory was installed divided into three sections, covered by tarps like a roof, but without walls, only trees and shrubs hid the place.

In the first area were ten metal boilers, each with a capacity of 500 liters, where the manufacturing process began.

The chemical substances, such as sodium carbonate (25 sacks were found in the place) and sodium hydroxide (six sacks were found in the place), once evaporated, they traveled through tubes and mixed with a liquid substance contained in a plastic swimming pool.

The liquid substance traveled in turn, through hoses up to two metal containers of industrial size with pressure measurement and two vertical tubes with upward direction that emitted gases.

Other chemicals used in this first stage of development is acetone, a substance that was found in a full 200-liter drum, as well as ethyl alcohol distributed in four metal drums of 200 liters each.

The areas were connected in turn by plastic hoses, transparent or black, which led the substances to other devices in the second stage that contained several tubs with other substances that were mixed to shape the final product.
                   Tubs of partially processed crystal meth during part of the chemical procedure

In the third part there were 15 tubs, each with a capacity of 500 liters. All contained a reddish paste with green flashes that was the crystal in its penultimate stage, before drying, which would allow it to finish solidifying.

In the open air, each tub would take one night to dry, but in addition to this, two industrial centrifuges were found in the laboratory that accelerated the process to a few minutes, since the high-speed rotation of the devices mechanically separated the humidity of the product until it is ready.

For this, the machines required electrical energy that was supplied to them from generators.

In addition to this drug about to end, the military located ten tubs, each of 400 kilograms with crystal meth already manufactured and only waiting to be moved.


Part of the additional material were four metallic filters with a capacity of 80 liters, six metal condensers with hoses of two meters each, 28 metal drums of 200 liters each with remover and two metallic gallons with the legend "tail", as well as multiple gas tank.

Only the drug already finished was seized in the operation, the losses are estimated between 301 and 475 million pesos, depending on the current value of the drug in California. However, its cost in the black market increases as it rises  north of the of the US Border.

While the industrial equipment, without considering the chemical precursors, has a value of more than 3,000,600 thousand pesos.

The Investigation:

Not everyone can acquire the material and real estate necessary to manufacture this synthetic drug.

The purchase of chemical precursors such as sodium hydroxide requires a registration that is taken by the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris). They are only allowed to companies registered in the Tax Administration Service (SAT) and that have a previously authorized corporate name. The same goes for industrial equipment.

Therefore, in the investigations conducted by the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR), should review the Cofepris registry to identify which was the corporate name that acquired the located material.

This was explained by Colonel Nolasco Fonseca, who indicated that it will be up to the Federal Public Ministry to follow the investigation required to find out which was the company that collaborated with the narco in the acquisition of this equipment.

While regarding the owners of the land used for the planting and manufacture of synthetic drugs, the area belongs to ejido lands, so in its investigation, the PGR must also cite the ejidatarios to determine responsibilities.

Three tons of marijuana sown nearby in two plantations:

In any military operation of this type, the elements must check the surroundings to verify that there is no danger in the perimeter. It was thus, less than 300 meters from where the laboratory was located, hidden  between the mostly  wooded area, were located two marijuana plantations.

The first with an extension of 7,500 square meters with plants up to 1.70 meters high and the second with an area of ​​12,000 square meters and a height of 1.20 meters.

Between trees and branches, the laboratory:

In total, there were about 90,000 plants with less than 20 days to be ready to harvest. This translates to almost three tons of marijuana worth almost 10 million pesos in the United States.

Army calculations indicate that this area of ​​drug production began two years ago when planting the plantations and from there the laboratory area was added.

The first plantation was delimited by a fence of barbed wire and counted on a pile of water constructed with stones and with a canvas on top to not be detected from the heights.

From the well, placed in an area with more height than the plantations, there were thick hoses, each with a perforated plastic bottle with several holes, which moved the water to the plants. (Gravity flow irrigation system).

Since the plants were almost ready to be defoliated and cut, some of these hoses had been disabled by the crop managers themselves. After only the female plants are chosen, precisely from where the hemp or fruit comes out, better known as colas / ie the flowering part of the plant, giant buds before they are trimmed down), these pieces are accumulated and transferred to other facilities where, with the help of a mechanical compressor, they are compressed and given a rectangular shape to wrap them in cinnamon packaging and transport the marijuana in blocks or packages.

The Army also detected that the seeds of the plants could have been genetically manipulated, since in a period of three months they reached the maturity that in another type of cannabis reaches up to six months. ( Frequently called clones or light deprived to advance maturity , ie forced to flower, in a short period of time

The 90,000 plants were uprooted and on a bed of sticks, incinerated in its entirety, in a military operation.

Camps and Outlooks tasks:

Although, in the laboratory area there was a space dedicated to the food kitchen and with tents, it was in the second plantation where the main camp was located with a kitchen that included an improvised fire pit of a metal tub and a table placed between branches of trees.

Military elements calculate that each week, the ten people who lived there and were responsible for both the manufacture of the drug and the maintenance of the plantations, received food for cooking, as well as water and beer.

This, due to the freshness of some items such as eggs and tortillas. In the same way, they even had a press to make tortillas.

Unlike other plantations, in this camp, the garbage was contained in black bags that were surely carried by the same people who left their food, to avoid being detected by people who moved in the area.

NOTE: By now most of you have read my complaints about garbage infested poisonous grow scenes. 

As a form of communication, they used frequency radios, of which only the chargers were left in some of the tables.

After this better equipped kitchen, when climbing a slope of about 200 meters there was one more camp. Six mattresses placed on the floor and surrounded by tarps to simulate a tent made up the rest area of ​​the lookouts ( Halcones).

The division of tasks was so precise that a person remained on duty outside the camp and with a direct view of the road and the main roads. This was deduced by the military when they found a pillow and a blanket under a tree in this area.

Professionals, who managed the team:

At the same point there were personal hygiene items, such as toothpaste and toothbrush. Similarly, there were marks left with cans and other objects at various points in the highest area to monitor the surroundings.

Partly thanks to the logistics that the personnel maintained, the military suspect, is that they could operate for so long without being discovered. Due to the proximity of the "Lookout Camp" the cookers  could flee when they saw the entry of military units, since no arrests were reported.

How is a laboratory of this type dismantled?

After the PGR carries out the insurance of the chemical precursors and the drug, as well as the sampling for its investigation, the federal agency contracts the services of a company specialized in toxic waste management.

This company, which receives security from the Mexican Army during the withdrawal of substances and equipment, is in charge of both the transfer and storage or, where appropriate, the disposal of the residues of the drug laboratory.

For this, for example, it uses trucks with platforms to be able to take the industrial-size equipment.

51 comments:

  1. Chivis must be your day off, no one has open the comments, Yanqi is busy feeding the burros, chickens and goats.

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    1. sorry personal life calls this week, company and a project with a timeline... I may not get to all comments.

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    2. Ja Ja, no goats but believe it or not I just butchered a grass and apple fed deer , Birria de Venado coming up !! Mmmmmm mmmmm.

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    3. Si señor yo soy de rancho!! I’m so hungry 😋

      -ModestoCA

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    4. You hungry stop at Pollo feliz in crowslanding.
      :modesto ca

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  2. Like mayo told mencho one time you don't have the huevos to kill the menores people where you come from are only mouth thats it and we know how that end well he str8 told the government take this labs and act like you are after me or I'm going to destroy you guys stylo Pablo Escobar if I'm gone die I'm gone die Al stylo sinaloense echando guerra

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    1. U mean surrendering and snitching??cuase we all know chinolas aint bout that life unless its in they fairytale ass corridos.arriba la sanchez putos and btw if mayos was do huevudo no se la pasara escondido entre sin y dgo i was gonna say chihuas but ya aint welcomed there no more lol they real ones and dont fuk wit lolas nomore

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    2. Too much fantasy from these such guys thinking mayo arranges every occurence. I doubt mayo told such words to mencho. But something mayo has been know to say about the business: Nadie tiene nada garantizado.

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    3. That's a lie that Sinaloa loves to spread. Mencho punked the kids for $$ and plazas and even punked mayo in la paz so bad half his crew joined mencho. Mayo is supposed to be the baddest out of Sinaloa but a michoacan showed him who has bigger balls lmaooooo

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    4. Cálmate y ya deja de usar esa cosa, lo dudo que seas de Sinaloa pariente.

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    5. Isidro is more of a man then this Chinola y Michoacáno put together. Something these so called bad asses don’t do is go to war and fight side by side con su gente. Mis respetos Chapo Isidro y toda la gente de la Mochomomera/ Mazatlecos esos si eran gallos en paz descansen todo los caídos

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    6. 3:50 Mayo is making cjng split and flip on menso. Why didn’t menso have the bigger balls when Chapo was not in custody? Loo EXACTLY

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    7. Ok one guy made that comment of mayo telling mencho and all the fanboys go by it while in reality they got out alive by giving up routes and plazas, The menores till this day have not retaliated, besides 1 corrido there hasnt been any corridos about their kidnapping because all it did was show their weakness era una verguenza para ellos, and either way lets say mayo did told Mencho that, the damage was already done, you cant deny or even erase the fact that it was proven that los menores are not untouchable, that it doesnt take a government nor a military unit to get them and kill them if they wanted to, they were defenseless, picked up like nothing and none of those blood thirsty killer sicarios gente nueva no one came to their rescue.

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    8. Also Pablo Escobar didnt destroy government, the government destroyed him. And a few weeks ago neither mayo nor his people waged war, they fled by the truck loads

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    9. 3:50 it was damazos crew that switched sides cause they were scared of getting smoked by mayo/ivans people

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    10. 5:40 mencho kicked chapo isidro out of jalisco and surrounding areas a few years back. I read of a few stories here on BB how cjng and chapo isidro crew got into gun battles. Chapo isidro got scared and went back to Sinaloa lol

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    11. Just my opinion guy you sure are a mencho nut hugger apparently they are untouchable they were freed

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    12. @6:42 chapo isidro is in a league by himself...tell me when Mencho manages to escape back to back operations by the mexican marines and US marshals . Plus if their crews get into gun battles that does mean mencho or chapo isidro were even in the state to begin with.

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    13. 3:03 - Para el Lucin que comento primero, me das mucha lastima... You think this is a loss? you little punk, quien piensas que le va quitar los dolores de salud o mejor cuando tu tio este lleno de cancer sin tener una esperanza. Quien piensas que les va dar esperanza de estar vivo unos años más a todos los enfermos, sigues admirando a una bola de rateros que roban gasolina para comprar perico. Nunca sabrán del mencho real, bola de pendejos. I invite you to my greenhouse in Danville, CA so you can keep hallucinating, maybe it’s hunger that you have? Yaqui is firing up a birria mi vale, somos de Campo de Libertad Mich/ Choix Sin. Te espero en coeneo🍾

      -payan



      -payan

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    14. 6:42 mencho don’t leave Jalisco thou, Isidro was up and down not to mention that Cjng would have never step foot in Nayarit till H2 y los H’s got lit up. I respect Menchos hustle my boy but the facts are facts mencho didn’t deal with narco heavyweights, los Aretes, Beltrans, Carrillos, Cardenas, Lazcano and his boys he’s only fought old ass Chapo and old ass mayo lol. And if we talking who’s bigger well then at this point Isidros Cartel have been stacking and moving weight under the radar a lot of judges and Generals eat off that man, mencho is a hot boy only a matter of time before he get lit up as well

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    15. Mencho didn't have them picked up it was Damaso, tito and quinteros nephew

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    16. Too many mencho haters. If mencho was from Sinaloa they would admire him. True fact. Lol hating is bad for your health and stop living in the past when cds was at it's peak when cjng had their back lol

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    17. All yall arguing back and forth about dudes that could care less about y'all... Get to work mejor mencho,mayo, or Isidro ain't gonna pay y'all bills..

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  3. Cds has been getting hard lately. Seems like they take turns on cds and cjng.

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  4. Something is definitely going on within the government regarding going after CDS...they are no longer the darlings of the MX underworld...

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  5. So this is just for a show these pictures were taken with cartel members watching and then were told to get back to work

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    1. Lol either that or the general took the chemicals to his narco-compa to process them and give him a cut

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  6. Insane operation and logistics feat

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  7. Could be mini lic dropping dimes already ?
    -💯

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    1. Don't forget that his dad was extradited earlier this year.

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  8. Pinches groupies are always in denial🤣🤣. I gotta give it to this cheerleaders they are the biggest fans.

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  9. This is likely happening because the damasos
    Are ratting, I mean both son and father are cooperating even testifying against el chapo, that or it was mayos son as he also cooperated to get a smaller sentence

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    1. @4:17 indeed. Now that nobody's paying mordida to protect these investments, they're getting picked off.

      All of them within spittin' distance of the US border too.

      How many more similar labs might there be?

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    2. All roots and supply lines etc were changed the day that lic and his pendejo son mini crossed the line (guerra). This lab was Mini's and was dismantled over a year ago but the govt is using it as propoganda to act as if they're going after Cartel de pacifico / CDS. The US Govt is putting pressure on Mexican government to take down CJNG and CDS but with CDS it's all show. You notice how it's all crystal labs taken out? They will pop up another 20 in place of the one they lost for pennies on the dollar. Meth busts dont take down cartels financially. It the heroin and Cocaine busts that put dents in the pocket and that's still nickels on the dollar for them.

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    3. It is not Dámaso but chapo the one the is talking so epn hitting them in business like telling them that shut the fuck up and even if the menores hid they gonna make are their people flip and kill everyone they know.

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    4. 6:47......I tend to agree...11:31....you have it wrong...Chapo not saying anything to anyone....Traitor Damaso, and his kid are the ones singing like canary's. It's documented.

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  10. sicario 006 do you have any intel on the operation and logistics of the clandestine lab. who did it belong to? los chapitos o el senor don mayo? who do you think is dropping dimes? could is be el guano what do your souces at mossad and the cia inform you? we know that you are in the now. and if you are not you will find a way to infiltrate and get the 411 since you are an expert and serve as commander of the reconnaissance companies in cds.

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    1. Lmao hopefully you’re being sarcastic 🤣🤣

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    2. 006 is currently out of the country learning advaced top secret cia/kgb joint training to pass on to sinaloas Paisa Ops sicarios. Hell get back to you as soon as he can.
      -006's Official Representative.

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    3. Ask the English Zeta

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  11. They are hitting cds where it hurts, there was a big presence of soldiers and federales in michoacan and jalisco but they didn't catch nobody or made big bust like that there we all know thats were it started so it's filled with labs... just saying...

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    1. Thats because Nobody is snitching like the chinolas

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  12. Something is weird....nobody busted, but say it's CDS...Doubt they left their biz cards...I thought they were dead??? 1 lab=1/2b a yr??

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    1. Not weird at all, it did said that CDS controls that area so the chances of it belonging to CDS are more than likely, also the government didnt just found this lab by luck, they got there because they knew it was there, they get their info, locate and identify the target and hit it, by the time they raided the place they already knew everything they need to know about the place, from the people who operate it, to the terrain around it.

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  13. The ppl voted for AMLO and in his last days EPN is doing sonething. All these places were well known to the police and gob but something changed and forced them into action against the narcos.
    And none snitching cause no arrests.

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  14. Geneticaly... Please dont spread that stupid BS. its just crossing between different plants but no genetics like the us corn by monsanto.
    And getting 2m in hight within 3month is not a problem.

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  15. Hey Yaqui
    Ya gotta try cutting bambi meat into small cubes. shake and bake coating then into oven. Best way and no wild taste. Juicy.
    Well anyway the shortest route to the border is always the best way to move produce. maybe they should just sweep the 50 miles south of the border. Make it a no go zone.
    OJ

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    1. Thanks , mano , I will try it !!
      Ground too, que bueno ! and or mixed w pork or lamb , BEST MEATLOAF ever, you carnivores.........
      Pero Birria de venado o chivo a la mejor !

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  16. Great article yaqui! Thank you. Very informative. The details about the halcones explains a lot. The press releases from the meth busts over the past few weeks didn't go into detail about how there are no arrests. This article explains in detail how easy it is to escape arrest. It seems to me that with this location, it had to have been known by locals/police/army. Idk. Seems like someone didn't get paid (bribed) and that was the end of it. Just my opinion
    Mn

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