Canisters, surgical masks and test tubes: A huge laboratory in which more than two tons of ecstasy or amphetamines were produced was dismantled in Valencia (east), Spanish police said on Wednesday.
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The operation is similar to the famous series “Breaking Bad”: The investigation began at the end of 2023 when investigators discovered a laboratory in a suburb of Valencia, in a “forested and mountainous area,” according to the police press release.
By observing comings and goings, the police concluded that the place was being used as a laboratory for the production of synthetic drugs: strong chemical smell, excessive transport of plastic canisters, wearing industrial masks and changing clothes when leaving the building…
On January 17, investigators arrested 12 people and seized “1,900 liters of MDMA, 1,000 liters of other chemical substances used to make ecstasy and 1,000 liters of chemical residues.”
In the laboratory they found “settlers, towers, ovens, test tubes, precision balances, personal protective equipment…”
According to police information and based on the amount of liquid searched, the smugglers may have produced more than two tons of amphetamines.
Of the twelve people arrested, four were imprisoned.
In addition to charges of crimes against public health and membership in a criminal organization, drug traffickers are prosecuted for crimes against the environment for releasing chemical waste into nature after processing the drug.