Secret drug lab found in home in upscale Burbank neighborhood, police say

A sophisticated drug lab was uncovered early Thursday morning in a quiet Burbank hillside community after police responded to a report of suspicious activity at a house there, authorities said.

The Burbank Police Department was sent to the home in the 3400 block of Castleman Lane around 1:20 a.m. after witnesses reported seeing a dog exiting a residence with its front door open.

Online real estate listings show homes on that street are valued at upward of $1 million.

Sgt. Derek Green, a department spokesman, said the lights were on inside the home when officers arrived and several vehicles were parked in the driveway. However, no one responded when police approached.

Fearing that “someone was inside the home, possibly in distress, in need of help or the victim of a crime,” the officers entered the residence, Green said.

Inside, police said they found drug-manufacturing equipment and supplies in multiple rooms and the garage that they suspect was being used to make marijuana derivatives.

Green said officers secured the home, and personnel from the Burbank Fire Department and Hazmat Response Team, as well as investigators from the California Department of Justice, were called in because of the “volatile and dangerous nature of drug labs.”

One man was found in the home and detained, police said, though it was not immediately clear how he was connected with the case.