Methamphetamine

Acting on a tip, Newport Beach narcotics officers arrested a Garden Grove man at his home on suspicion of drug possession and confiscated 5 ounces of methamphetamine, eight assorted firearms and $200 in cash, police said Wednesday. James Alan Gassaway, 43, was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon at his Otis Street home, minutes after undercover detectives found a jar full of methamphetamine buried in his front yard, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Andy Gonis said.

Pomona police raided a clandestine drug laboratory just one block from department headquarters early Sunday morning, arresting seven people and seizing about $50,000 worth of increasingly popular methamphetamine. Acting on a tip, officers swooped down on the lab shortly after midnight, also confiscating several guns along with the chemicals used to make the illicit stimulant, said Lt. Greg Hamill.

Tips about a flow of drugs into this city led local investigators into Los Angeles, where authorities discovered what they said was one of the largest methamphetamine labs in state history. Police on Saturday arrested two men and seized 10 pounds of the concentrated, crystallized form of speed, known as "ice," from a lab capable of producing 100 to 200 pounds a week, Buena Park Police Sgt. Ken Coovert said Monday.

Eight people were arrested Friday after raids on suspected methamphetamine labs in Santa Ana, Anaheim and Fullerton, police said. Several pounds of the illegal drug were seized in the raids, which began midafternoon and ended about 6 p.m., Fullerton Police Lt. Mike Stedman said. Two search warrants were served in Anaheim, one in Santa Ana and one in Fullerton, all in residential areas, police said. Police found evidence of illegal drug labs in Anaheim and Santa Ana, Stedman said.

A Van Nuys man was sentenced Monday to almost 16 years in prison for selling nearly 20 pounds of methamphetamine to undercover federal agents, officials said. Humberto Estrada Bombella, 33, was convicted in September of conspiracy and possession with intent to sell the drug, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Anthony Pachecho. Bombella was also convicted on a weapons count because a loaded handgun was found on the floor of his car during the arrest, Pachecho said. U.S.

While cocaine use continues to slow, methamphetamine is gradually taking its place as the most widely abused drug in the United States--and use of the potent stimulant is becoming increasingly prevalent in Los Angeles, the federal government reported Tuesday. Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco now lead the nation's cities in the number of deaths associated with methamphetamine use, according to the latest quarterly report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The methamphetamine laboratories that once plagued California's hinterlands and powered a national explosion of drug abuse have been replaced by an increasing supply from Mexico, U.S. law enforcement officials say. Methamphetamine production has surged south of the border, from Baja California ranches to the highlands of Michoacan to the industrial parks here in Mexico's second largest city, where authorities in January busted the largest laboratory ever discovered in the Americas.

Authorities announced the breakup of an international methamphetamine and money-laundering ring, saying the action should put a significant crimp on the flow of methamphetamine throughout the country. Dubbed "Operation Living Large," the two-year, multi-agency sting targeted a scheme that shrouded alleged drug profits through an exotic car dealership in Costa Mesa.