Suspected Drug Byproduct Is Found in Field
Port Hueneme police shut down the 100 block of Pleasant Valley Road for more than three hours Tuesday afternoon after the discovery of two small containers feared to be filled with the byproduct of an illegal methamphetamine lab.
Police and hazardous material experts from Point Mugu were called to a lot between a bar and a car repair shop just before noon.
The road was shut down and vehicles were detoured after authorities were unable to identify the white crystalline substance in the containers, Police Sgt. Ted Snyder said.
Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Joe Luna said tubes in the containers led authorities to conclude that the material was the byproduct of an illegal drug lab and had been dumped in the open field.
The containers had been there for a few days before an auto shop owner alerted police, Luna said.
Officials from the state Bureau of Drug Enforcement took the containers to a Los Angeles laboratory to test for fingerprints and positively identify the substance, Luna said.
The site where the containers were found is about a block from the Navy base at Port Hueneme.
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