Drug Lab Explosion Wrecks Apartment

Two men were arrested early Tuesday on suspicion of preparing crystal methamphetamine after a batch of the drug exploded on their stove, blasting out the windows of their apartment, Los Angeles police reported.

No one was injured in the explosion, which shattered windows of the second-floor apartment in the 14700 block of Burbank Boulevard, jolted the ceiling from the walls and sent a bed flying across the apartment, LAPD Lt. Bernie Larralde said. The blast knocked one resident into the bathtub.

“They had a helacious explosion,” he said.

“It was like a bomb,” apartment manager Kamil Abdelmalak said.

Police arrested Jose V. Natividad, 39, and Edgardo Rabe Nolasco, 45, and seized more than five pounds of crystal methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $213,000, Larralde said. They also seized two pistols and $20,000.

Natividad and Nolasco were held at the Van Nuys jail in lieu of $100,000 bail, he said. Larralde said the two were at least mid-level dealers. “By our standards, five pounds of crystal is a lot of crystal,” he said.

Methamphetamine is cooked into its powdered form in a lengthy process involving hazardous chemicals. The powder can be inhaled or injected. Or the unstable substance can be converted into the crystal form after it is heated, which presents the greatest environmental and explosive dangers, Larralde said.

Larralde said the crystal form is smoked and is most popular in Hawaii. Evidence seized at the apartment indicated Natividad and Nolasco planned several trips to the islands, and the investigation is continuing, he said.