6 SUSPECTS ARRESTED AFTER DRUG-LAB RAID : UNDERGROUND DRUG LABS.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer

Two women and four men were arrested after sheriff's deputies uncovered an underground drug lab they said was capable of producing three to five pounds of methamphetamine a week.

Discovered by deputies during a narcotics investigation at an isolated home protected by a surveillance camera, the lab was concealed in a travel trailer buried underground with a cargo container used as a storage shed placed on top of it, deputies said.

``The cargo container had a very strong chemical smell conducive to a lab,'' said narcotics investigator Steve Borek. ``When we looked down, we saw a hole going down.''

Arrested Thursday were Tami Rae Glade, 32, of Lancaster; Kimberly Rae Estrada, 30, of Lancaster; William David Robertson, 38, of Lancaster; Thomas James Souza, 34, of Paradise; and Brian Lyn Booth, 35, who is described as a transient.

Another resident who was not at the home in the 10200 block of East Avenue J when deputies arrived was arrested Friday shortly after 11 a.m. in Lancaster, deputies said.

All were booked on suspicion of manufacturing a controlled substance and were being held at the Lancaster sheriff's station in lieu of $500,000 bail apiece.

Deputies said they confiscated a pound of the finished drug - a powerful stimulant - plus five handguns, a rifle, chemicals and a variety of surveillance cameras and equipment.

``We don't know if they were looking at us,'' Borek said. ``The camera was on. They're not only looking out for the cops but anyone else who comes up.''

Officials say that drug manufacturers like the remote locations in the Antelope Valley, where they can easily conceal their illegal doings.

In 1995, three underground drugs labs were seized by local authorities in eastern Kern County. One was on the property of a man killed in a gunfight.

The Antelope Valley also was the location for two elaborate underground marijuana plantations uncovered by narcotics investigators in 1990.

Kern and Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies have uncovered four methamphetamine laboratories hidden underground in the past two years in the Antelope Valley:

LANCASTER: 10200 block of East Avenue J, Jan. 16, 1997.

ROSAMOND: 10000 block of Hamilton Road, July 1, 1995.

170th Street West north of Rosamond Boulevard, Dec. 15, 1995.

MOJAVE: United Street and County Dump Road, July 8, 1995.

CAPTION(S):

Box

Box: UNDERGROUND DRUG LABS (see text)