Border bust turns into hazmat situation

Aug 18, 2006 07:08 AM

A pair of illegal immigrants carrying drugs, weapons, and a suspicious liquid was busted on the border.

Authorities say that suspicious liquid could be used to make liquid methamphetamine.

It happened Thursday morning, in Santa Cruz County just outside Rio Rico and only a few miles from the Mexican border.

"You can't be a hundred percent sure that's what's on the label is in the bottle," said Battalion Chief William Rowe with the Tubac Fire Department.

Labels on bottles found read "ethanol."

Officials say the lids had been tampered with, so no one could be sure exactly what was inside.

The scene immediately switched from a smuggling bust to a hazmat situation.

"Crews isolated the area and took further measures to identify the substance."

Turns out... the liquid is "Ethyl Ether..." used as a solvent for cleaning car parts... and sometimes, it's used for liquid meth.

Four of the one liter bottles were found inside the car along with two illegal immigrants.

That's not all... video provided by the Border Patrol shows more than 300 pounds of marijuana and two assault rifles.

"Now, with the drug trafficking we're seeing more and more violence and odd chemicals being brought into the country so being a border community you really do have to be prepared for just about anything coming across the border."

It happened around nine Thursday morning... Border Patrol found the car hidden in thick trees.

Out there, officials say they never know what they're going to find.

"This is an area that has a high frequency of smuggling activity both illegal aliens and drugs come through here so it wouldn't be surprising if there are other things out there," said Rowe.

Two people were taken into custody... and the chemicals were disposed of by a private hazmat company.

The hazmat crews and the others worked all day to secure a safe scene trying to determine exactly what was inside those bottles.

http://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5297271