Cops Seize $3 Million Worth of Meth in NW Side Lab

By Margaret Lyons in News on Mar 25, 2008 9:12PM

Police busted a methamphetamine lab last night on the Northwest Side and recovered over 18 pounds of crystal meth, which they say has a street value of around $3 million. That's a lotta meth. They also found 790 grams of cocaine, which has a street value of around $100,000.

It's pretty rare to find a meth lab in a city because meth is really stinky--according to Illinois's own MethNet, the odors of cooking meth "have been compared to the smell of cat urine or rotten eggs." Other tell-tale signs of a meth house include strange ventilation, "excessive or unusual trash," and dead vegetation. Plus it's not that easy to get meth supplies in Chicago.

It's not clear yet if anyone was living in the two-story house at 2505 N. Linder Ave or if it was just being used as a lab.

"They were obviously doing some cooking there,” [ Grand Central District police Sgt. Richard Sliva] said. “Whether some of it was brought there [is under investigation], but there was stuff there that led us to believe they were cooking crystal methamphetamines there, cut and filler."

Everything we know about meth production we learned from Breaking Bad. [S-T, CBS 2, Trib, image of toxic meth garbage from MethNet]