Meth Lab Found in Sandy Springs Apartment Unit

Sign up for the Sandy Springs Patch newsletter!

---

Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Atlanta Field Division have uncovered a meth lab operating in a Sandy Springs apartment unit.

DEA agents, along with the Sandy Springs Police Department’s Special Investigations Divisions, executed a search warrant on Monday, Aug. 31 on alleged methamphetamine traffickers at 6900 Roswell Road Apartment Q9 in the city.

Upon entry, special agents and officers found “an extremely dangerous environment which included an active methamphetamine conversion lab with flammable solvents cooking on the stove,” the agency said in its press release.

In addition to the flammable solvents cooking on the stove, there were numerous burning candles being used to mask the chemical smell of the meth lab.

Additionally, John Murphy, DEA assistant special agent in charge with the DEA’s Atlanta Field Office, said the defendants were also using an area next to the candles where they were allegedly pouring acetone over the finished product to crystallize the drug.

The combination of an open flame, a vigorous boiling operation and the use of a flammable liquid could have easily resulted in an explosion of the unit and the destruction of the apartment building within minutes.

With this in mind, special agents and officers immediately evacuated the residents of the apartment building until the dangers of the illegal methamphetamine lab could be mitigated, Murphy stated.

“The defendants in this investigation demonstrated a reckless disregard for human life and their illegal actions put their neighbors, to include children, in extreme danger, ” the assistant special agent said. “In addition to keeping 167 pounds of meth from hitting the streets of our community, this joint enforcement action by DEA and the Sandy Springs Police Department eliminated a volatile illegal meth lab that posed a substantial danger for fire or explosion which could have resulted in the loss of life and property.”

The search warrant resulted in the seizure of 67 pounds of methamphetamine and 15 gallons of methamphetamine in solution, which would produce approximately 59 additional pounds of meth.

The drugs had a street value of over $7 million, and would have produced just over a half-million dosage units, Murphy added.

Four residents were arrested at the scene: Juan Francisco Martinez-Nunez, Salvador Ivan Alonso-Mendoza, Diego Ivan Parra and Ismael Martinez-Anallo. All four defendants were booked into the Fulton County Jail, and charged with reckless endangerment and trafficking in methamphetamine.

“This case is a great example of the importance of working with our federal partners on a daily basis,” said Sandy Springs Police Chief Ken DeSimone said in a statement.

Murphy stated metro Atlanta remains a ”command and control network” for Mexican drug traffickers, and noted the product could be traced directly to the country.

When asked if more arrests could come in connection to the Sandy Springs bust, Murphy said agents will remain ”proactive and relentless” in their pursuit of the bad guys.

“We are going to follow the bad guys until we get to the top,” he added.

The DEA is also urging residents to call authorities if they see anything unusual or smell any chemical aromas that seem out of the ordinary.

Murphy stated meth labs and production of the drugs puts many lives at risks, including those who not only reside in the same living spaces where the operations are housed, but neighbors who live adjacent to those hubs.

---

Photo credits: DEA