(KMJ) Fresno – The Fresno County Sheriff’s “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area” team (HIDTA) was investigating a house in Central Fresno after a fire inside led them to discover an illegal honey oil lab.
Around 8:30 Thursday morning, fire started in the bedroom of the house at 2715 N. Millbrook, where Sheriff’s Spokesperson Tony Botti said a 42 year-old man was cooking the butane gas.
“You could see in that pyrex dish – it just looks like dirt gunk – but that’s the stuff he was producing.” – Tony Botti, Spokesperson, Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
The man was burned on his arms – in a criminal endeavor that Botti says is happening more frequently.
“Throughout the Central Valley, over the last few years, we have been seeing more of these cases pop up. A lot of it has to do with things over the internet, showing people how to do it- word of mouth that its intriguing, maybe easy to do, so people try it themselves at their own homes, but what people don’t realize is how dangerous it is.” – Tony Botti, Spokesperson, Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
Among the paraphernalia there were two garbage bags of marijuana stems and a dozen canisters of butane gas to make the honey oil – a drug also known as “wax” or “peanut budder” that would have been worth about 600 dollars when sold to “dabbers” or users on the streets.
Botti said a child was living in the house but was not home at the time of the fire, and any charges against the man who started the fire are pending until the crime investigation is done.
