Meth maker shuts storage office, units

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - An employee of a storage facility was receiving methamphetamine from the person who was cooking up the illicit drug hidden within the business, Albuquerque police are reporting.

No charges have yet been filed, but on Wednesday officers of the Criminal Nuisance Abatement Unit tagged as substandard property two storage units and a combined office and residence at the facility near Central Avenue and 48th Street NW.

Whether the buildings will be razed or returned to use will depend on whether contamination from the meth-cooking process can be cleaned up.

A spokesperson for the Albuquerque Police Department said narcotics officers had received information on the lab. During the raid late Tuesday they discovered a wall had been knocked out between two storage units to set up what the spokesperson called a large meth lab.

Inside investigators found the dangerous chemicals used by meth cooks including anhydrous ammonia. The also reported finding the finished product.

Police have not released the names of any suspects or of the employee believed to have been cooperating with the meth cook.

Inspectors said the business had been on the city's radar since July 2008 when people had taken up residence in some of the storage units. Stolen property also has been recovered from units there in the past.

Part of the facility remains open.