ROBBERS STEAL METH MIXERS; HEIST HITS CHATSWORTH CHEMICAL MAKER.Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer Two gunmen stormed a pharmaceutical company Thursday and stole 110 pounds of a chemical that can be used to make methamphetamine, police said. The men got away from police, but a few blocks later abandoned the two 55-pound containers of pseudoephedrine hydrochloride pseudoephedrine hydrochloride Contac Non Drowsy (UK), Galsud (UK), Genaphed, Kidkare Decongestant, Meltus Decongestant (UK), Non-Drowsy Sudafed Decongestant (UK), PediaCare Infants' Oral Decongestant Drops, Robidrine (CA), Silfedrine Children's, Sudafed, powder, said Detective Ken Crocker of the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Police Department's Devonshire Division. ``They knew exactly what they wanted and where it was,'' Crocker said. Authorities said it is common for retail pharmacies to be burglarized or for drug dealers to shoplift shop·lift v. shop·lift·ed, shop·lift·ing, shop·lifts v.intr. To steal merchandise from a store that is open for business. v.tr. cough medicines and extract that part of them that can be made into methamphetamine. But police said they could not recall whether San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. pharmaceutical manufacturers had been burglarized or robbed. ``This is the first time I've come across this,'' said Crocker, who has worked for the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. for more than 11 years. The men were described as Latinos, 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 150 to 170 pounds. They entered Banner Pharmacaps in the 20700 block of Dearborn Street in Chatsworth about 3 a.m., police said. Armed with a handgun and a shotgun, they ordered several employees to the ground as they stole the powder. One employee managed to call police while the robbers were inside, but they escaped, Crocker said. Jeff Tweedy, a production manager at Banner Pharmacaps, said the robbery rattled some of his employees. ``People here are a little bit shaken and scared,'' Tweedy said. By itself, the amount of stolen powder is valued at $5,800, Crocker said. Pharmaceutical companies turn the powder into an antihistamine antihistamine (ăn'tĭhĭs`təmēn), any one of a group of compounds having various chemical structures and characterized by the ability to antagonize the effects of histamine. or cold medication. But it also can be used to produce methamphetamine, a highly addictive form of speed. ``Without that, you're not going to make meth meth n. Methamphetamine hydrochloride. ,'' said LAPD Detective Rick Gutierrez. When combined with other solvents and cooked into methamphetamine, the street value of the amount stolen is upped to an estimated $500,000, Gutierrez said. Because methamphetamine is so easy and cheap to make, it has become the drug of choice for the 1990s, police said. |
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