An Amador County Narcotics Investigation resulted in the bust of a large methamphetamine lab in San Andreas over the weekend. The crackdown resulted in the arrest of four Stockton men and another man, according to the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office. Five suspects from the Stockton area were arrested and booked between Friday and Saturday on suspicion of manufacturing a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit a crime. According to an Amador Police official, this bust was above and beyond the size of an average meth lab crackdown, but details have yet to be disclosed.

The Amador County Narcotics Task Force had been investigating the lab for close to a month and made the bust in cooperation with the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office and the Amador County Sheriff's Office. There was evidence of frequent drug manufacturing, although drugs were not being manufactured at the time of the arrest. Nine 55 gallon tanks were filled with manufacturing waste from meth production. Most of the necessary chemicals to manufacture methamphetamine are readily available in household products or over-the-counter cold or allergy medicines. Synthesis is relatively simple, but entails risk with flammable and corrosive chemicals, particularly the solvents used in extraction and purification. Clandestine production of meth is therefore often discovered by fires and explosions caused by the improper handling of volatile or flammable solvents.