Drug-Manufacturing Materials Seized
Materials for making $15 million worth of methaqualone were seized at a Bakersfield lab by local, state and federal narcotics agents during an investigation that led to five more sites in Canyon Country and the San Fernando Valley, authorities said Monday.
The material used to manufacture the illegal depressant was discovered Sunday during a raid of a shed behind a house. The raid followed a two-month investigation by officers from the Bakersfield Police Department, state officials and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, said Bakersfield Police Lt. Kent Middleton.
Raids of two houses in Canyon Country and an automotive repair shop in Reseda yielded two pounds of powdered methaqualone, Middleton said.
Investigators also found a 55-gallon container of materials used for making the drug, commonly called Quaalude, at a storage locker in Canyon Country and two pill presses at a business complex in North Hollywood. Two Bakersfield residents and a Canyon Country resident, whose names were not released, were arrested on suspicion of manufacturing the drug.
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