Feds seize 3,000 pounds of meth ingredients at LAX

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Bags of methamphetamine pills. The chemicals seized at LAX on Sept. 29 are used to make methamphetamine and Ecstasy.

Federal agents seized a shipment of more than 3,000 pounds of methamphetamine-making chemicals at Los Angeles International Airport.

Customs and Border Protection spokesman Jaime Ruiz said Thursday that 40 drums of methylamine hydrochloride and two barrels of ethyl phenyl acetate shipped from China were intercepted at the airport on Sept. 29.

The shipment, described as one of the largest meth precursor seizures at the airport, was destined for a company in Illinois. There are no further details.

The chemicals are used to make methamphetamine and the party drug Ecstasy.

Ruiz says special permission is needed to import the controlled substances.

There have been no arrests.

On Aug. 12, federal agents at the airport seized a quarter-ton of methylamine hydrochloride in eight drums that was being shipped from China to a company in central Mexico.