Top Stories Memphis

• Three Memphis meth busts in 24 hours
• Meth busts in city on the rise roughly 50%
• Enforcement and new methods of making causing the spike

(Memphis 12/15/2009)

1382 Wells Station, a tip call leads the Memphis Organized Crime Unit to a stash of crystal meth and meth making materials ditched in a shed behind a vacant home.

A similar bust happened just a day before behind a home in the 500-block of Berclair.

A yellow quarantine sticker’s now on the door of the shed where the volatile drug was apparently cooked up.

“One day you could smell it,” says Leslie Hardin.

Four people have been arrested and charged in connection with making and selling meth behind the abandoned Berclair home.
An area that’s seen many meth raids in recent months.

Leslie Hardin and her three year old daughter Angel live right next door.

“If they would’ve done it wrong it could’ve blown up and my daughter was over here.”

There have been three meth busts in the city of Memphis within 24-hours.

Officials say the bust on Wells Station is the 55th in the city. That’s up roughly 50-percent from last year.

Authorities attribute part of the rise to a popular new meth making method called shake-and-bake. Making it quicker and easier to cook the popular drug.

Investigators say increased enforcement has also played a big role. The State of Tennessee requires stores to report sales of Sudafed which is used to make meth.

An undercover agent explained how that helps.

“It allows us to look a lot closer at people that are buying this stuff and it gives us leads to investigate where it’s going.”

That’s good news for Hardin and her daughter. Now that police have arrested the suspected dealers that set up shop next to her home, she’s hoping the city will shut down their business for good. ” I want to see it torn down.”