Ranchers Warned of Drug Labs : Crime: Officials alert landowners to signs that methamphetamine production is occurring on their property.

Warning of the potential danger from methamphetamine labs, authorities told a group of ranchers Thursday to be alert for pungent odors, discarded chemical containers and other signs associated with the illicit operations.

Authorities held the meeting, which was attended by Ventura County Sheriff Larry Carpenter, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury and other county law enforcement officials, in response to the discovery of four clandestine drug labs in the county since January.

“This is a critical message that needs to get out, especially to the rural areas of the county,” Carpenter told the two dozen ranchers who assembled at a Santa Paula restaurant. “The people that operate these labs are very dangerous and we’ve all got to be more aware.”

One of the four labs, where methamphetamine was manufactured, or “cooked,” was found concealed in a Fillmore avocado orchard in late January. The other labs were found in remote areas of privately owned ranches.

Last month, a task force of federal and state authorities raided what was believed to be the largest methamphetamine lab in Ventura County history, confiscating an estimated $4 million worth of the drug and arresting three men in a remote canyon outside Camarillo. The owner of the property was not charged because he was unaware of the lab’s existence.

Concerned that some ranchers might not report the operations for fear they would be held accountable, Bradbury told the group that property owners could not be forced to forfeit land under federal law unless they had prior knowledge that a lab was operating on their property.

Santa Paula rancher Don Schieferele, said a hidden drug lab discovered on his property last year was later raided by authorities, and added that the information in Thursday’s session was valuable. “It’s good to know what to look for,” he said.

Authorities on Thursday said the greatest danger presented by the labs is from combustible chemicals that may be stored haphazardly. Additionally, the labs, housed in trailers, tents or shacks, often are booby-trapped and patrolled by armed guards.

Law enforcement officials attribute the increase in the number of labs manufacturing methamphetamine to the ease with which the drug makers, called cooks, can make a fast profit.

“Even with an unsophisticated operation, you can make an incredible amount of money making this stuff,” said Mike Horne, a narcotics officer with the Sheriff’s Department. “And the chemicals you need are available to anybody. . . . You can go to the supermarket and buy everything you need and double your investment in 24 hours.”

Methamphetamine, a stimulant commonly known as speed or crank, usually comes in powder form and is commonly smoked or snorted.

Once derided as poor man’s cocaine and associated with motorcycle gangs, the drug is now more expensive than cocaine, and its popularity has increased, Horne said.

While a pound of methamphetamine might have a street value of $10,000, cocaine sells for about $12,000 per kilogram, about 2.2 pounds, Horne said.

A methamphetamine operation can double the initial outlay of $5,000 for an electrical generator, chemicals and other equipment after the production of only one pound. Some labs manufacture as much as 100 pounds in two days, Detective Dan Thompson said.

Authorities said that a recent trend is the increasing number of Mexican nationals in the methamphetamine trade. Horne said the operators often bribe or threaten ranch workers to gain access to remote areas of ranches to make the drug.