Murder Inquiry Leads to Drug Arrests

TIJUANA —  A search for a murder suspect led Mexican authorities to what they say is the largest methamphetamine laboratory ever discovered in the country.

Six Americans and four Mexicans were arrested after the lab was found Thursday at a small ranch in the Mexican border city of Tecate, about 40 miles east of Tijuana.

Ronald D’Luisse of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the lab was believed to be part of an operation distributing methamphetamine throughout the United States and capable of producing up to $36 million worth of the drug each month.

D’Luisse said the alleged ringleader of the Mexico-based operation, Dominic Esposito, 43, of Ramona, Calif., is under investigation by the DEA and a federal grand jury for his alleged involvement in a methamphetamine lab in Ramona that was destroyed by fire in May, 1984.