Alabama: Two meth labs explode in Bayou La Batre

Bayou La Batre, Alabama was in the news for the second time this month, because of meth lab explosions. When the first meth lab exploded, just about two weeks ago in room 110 of the Bayou La Batre Inn and Suites motel, Bayou Police Corporal Jason Edwards said it was a first for the city. It didn’t take long for that to change. A second meth lab, located in a trailer home on Satsuma Street, blew up with so much force that it broke every window in the house as well as the door. No one was inside the trailer when the explosion occurred.

Video coverage by Fox 10 TV covered the story of a second meth lab explosion that blew the windows and walls out of a trailer home that had been occupied by the son of Frank Collier, Sr. Franks says his son had been staying with him for the last 5 or 6 days, because he had double pneumonia, but he had gone to the trailer home earlier that night to get some clothes. Police have not named his son as a suspect.

Other interesting news about Bayou Le Batre:

On July 13, 2009, Bayou La Batre received national attention when President Barack Obama nominated Dr. Regina Benjamin, a Bayou La Batre physician,  as the nation’s surgeon general.  Read more about her nomination and watch video coverage of her speech on WKRG Channel 5 News.

NPR talks about life in Bayou La Batre in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Operation Arctic Chill freezes meth distribution ring

California / Washington:  Operation Arctic Chill agents found meth, cocaine, cash, and guns, as a result of an investigation of a Mexican drug ring they conducted for 14 months. Washington and California law enforcement agencies collaborated with federal drug agents from the DEA to track and apprehend 31 people, who were involved in a Mexican meth and cocaine trafficking scheme that involved  Mexico, Northern California,  and Washington.  The DEA reports that the drug traffickers bought  meth and cocaine from suppliers in Mexico and California for  distribution in Washington.

Read the press release by the DEA: Read more

East TN Operation FALCON swoops in on meth lab cook

James Winnie captured by Operation Falcon

East Tennessee: Operation Falcon reports that a meth lab cook, named James Winnie,  is one of 242 fugitive felons that they have taken in to custody during their collaborative effort to take some of East Tennessee’s worst criminals off the streets. Winnie was wanted on over 15 outstanding warrants according to the The Hamilton County Sheriffs Department, warrants for crimes that included:  assault, credit card fraud, burglary Read more

Bay County FLA: Meth lab explosion began in a plastic bottle, Sheriff says

July 9, 2009 – A press release by the Bay County Sheriff’s office says that narcotics officers believe that a plastic bottle was responsible for a meth lab explosion that happened last night.  According to the Sheriff’s office, “At approximately 10:30 last night, July 8, 2009, Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies and fire personnel responded to a residence at 26th Street and Grant Avenue in reference to a fire. Once on the scene, it was evident that a meth lab was being operated within the home which had resulted in an explosion.

BCSO Special Investigations narcotics officers were called to the scene and found where a plastic bottle used to cook meth had exploded and Read more