MADRID, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish Interior Ministry on Thursday confirmed that Civil Guards have dismantled a laboratory in the eastern province of Alicante, which was capable of producing 1,800 kilos of synthetic drugs a year.
The press statement issued by the Ministry informs Civil Guards arrested four Spanish and two Belgian nationals in an operation carried out with the aid of the Dutch police force and Europol, or the European Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation.
They also seized 432 kilos of MDMA (more commonly known as "ecstasy"), 337 kilos of amphetamines, 527 kilos of Piperonyl Methyl Ketone (PMK) and around 7,000 kilos of other substances used for the elaboration of Crystal Methamphetamine, with a total market value of over one million euros (1.18 million U.S. dollars).
The Interior Ministry reports the laboratory was situated in a "half buried, garage bunker that looked like a warehouse for farm implements", close to the home of one of the leading gang members, but far enough away from other homes to avoid neighbors being aware of what was being manufactured.
The discovery of the laboratory came as the result of an investigation into a different gang, with Civil Guards discovering that one of the members of that organization had got into contact with the drug laboratory in order to attempt to offer new "products" to their clients.
The press statement highlights that many of the substances which were seized had high levels of "toxicity" and were also "inflammable" and consequently "specialized personal" from Europol took part in the operation to dismantle the laboratory safely.
