10 arrested

at meth lab

in New Ulm

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Police arrested ten people on suspicion of manufacturing methamphetamine following the execution of a search warrant at a house here Monday night.

Police said every ingredient and piece of equipment needed to make the illegal drug was found by officers of the New Ulm Police Department, Brown County Sheriff's Department and the Brown Lyon Redwood Task Force in the basement of a house on South Washington Street at 10:13 p.m.

Six men and four women are currently in the custody in the Brown County Jail pending formal criminal charges in Brown County District Court. They were arrested without incident.

Police also found a two-year old child inside the house during the search.

Assistant Brown County Attorney Clark Tuttle said he expects to file

charges of controlled substance violations, conspiracy and intent to manufacture methamphetamine against some of the suspects today, police said.

Police said the amounts of the ingredients found inside the house are consistent with a large meth cooking operation. Many of the things found inside the house were collected and sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension lab in St. Paul for further testing.

"This was a good-sized lab. Roughly, you could say it's bigger than average," New Ulm Police Investigator Jeff Hohensee said. "We hope this sends a message to the people who are also involved in the consumption of meth, not just the manufacturers."

Meth is considered a dangerous drug by law enforcement and Public Health officials because of the effects on its users and because it involves cooking several highly toxic chemicals, which can explode and can cause pollution problems and injuries to the people involved.

The Minnesota Department of Health said 20 illegal drug labs were seized in Minnesota in 1995; 400 labs were seized in 2002.

Local officials have estimated lab cleanups can cost in between $1,000 and $10,000 depending upon the size of the lab and the amount of time it has been operating

Hohensee said the execution of the warrant came a week after the investigation into the alleged activities began. He said the size of the basement laboratory is larger than local police usually handle. He said he is unsure of exactly how much meth the lab may have produced.

A contractor hired by the U.S Drug Enforcement Agency helped with the lab cleanup shortly after the warrant was executed and was finished by 6:30 Tuesday morning.

Hohensee said Tuesday evening that police are still talking to witnesses about the lab and verifying some of the information from the investigation.