The discovery of four major drug labs over the last two weeks offers  further evidence that Guadalajara’s metro-area is a key production center in Mexico’s lucrative drug trade.

On the outskirts of Juanacatlan, 200 officers uncovered what the Attorney Gerneral claims is the largest drug laboratory ever found in Latin America, while in Zapopan police discovered a storage facility for illicit chemicals.

Federal officers who uncovered a 600-square-meter laboratory for the production of methamphetamine in Juanacatlan said they were surprised by the size of the facility. Most drug labs are much smaller to avoid detection.

Four armed men were arrested on the scene and Spanish-language media have cited unnamed official sources who claim the lab was operated by the Sinaloa cartel.

Two smaller laboratories, containing 100 drums of chemicals, were raided this week in connection with the Juanacatlan bust.

The combined contraband of those labs paled in comparison to that of a clandestine warehouse in Zapopan, where on July 31 investigators removed more than a million liters of restricted chemicals often used in the manufacture of synthetic narcotics.

Military personnel cordoned off several blocks of the El Colli neighborhood, while state and federal agents dressed head to toe in protective suits and using respirators seized 7,780 drums of methanol, Ethyl phenyl acetate and Amyl phenyl acetate, among other chemicals.

Zapopan police assured residents that the chemicals had not leaked from their containers and that there was no serious risk of exposure for the neighborhood.

The warehouse owners (whose names have not been disclosed to press) face minimum federal charges of unlicensed purchase and containment of hazardous substances, jeopardizing public health and safety as well as endangering the environment.

Prosecutors believe the chemicals were to be used primarily for processing methamphetamines. The warehouse likely served as a distribution center for raw materials to regional narcotic manufacturing facilities such as those raided over the last week.

The federal office for administration and distribution of seized property says the chemicals will be safely stored before being parceled out for use in the manufacture of legal pharmaceuticals.