By KIRBY ROSS
Phillips County Review
PHILLIPSBURG — Anybody who drives along Phillips County highways on a regular basis occasionally will see orange-clad Kansas Department of Correction prisoner work crews picking up trash along ditches.
One such crew of convicts was working Highway 183 immediately north of Phillipsburg last Thursday when they came across something that didn’t fit in the category of being ordinary run-of-the-mill roadside garbage.
With some of the inmates being experts in the identification of drug manufacturing paraphernalia, they immediately recognized the unusual “trash” they came across as being components for the manufacture of methamphetamine — aka, a meth lab.
The guards overseeing the operation immediately called in Phillips County law enforcement, which secured the site a stone’s throw north of the old Groendyke truck yard not far beyond Phillipsburg city limits.
Phillips County Sheriff Charlie Radabaugh then contacted the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which sent up a unit of its Clandestine Laboratory Response Team from Great Bend.
With the evidence recovery operation getting underway by mid-afternoon, KBI-technicians suited in full body hazmat suits that look like something an astronaut might wear on Mars in a 1950s science fiction movie began working the area.
Soon they recovered a number of items that looked suspicious and transported them back to their own laboratories for testing.
In the meantime, Phillips County Sheriff’s deputies combed the ditches along Highway 183 further up the road and found an additional item of interest a couple miles north of the site of the original discovery.
Commenting to the Phillips County Review at the scene as the KBI investigators were working in the background, Sheriff Radabaugh stated “the prisoners immediately recognized the items for what they were and had it called in to us. Funny, some of them seemed to be experts on what they were looking at.”
For this find and for any other crimes occurring in Phillips County, the Sheriff’s Office offers a reward up to $1,000 for information which leads to an arrest. Call or text 785-251-3809 anytime. Callers can remain anonymous.
The following press release relating to the meth lab discovery was issued the same day:
This afternoon, dangerous components of a meth lab were located north of Phillipsburg.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation Clandestine Lab Response Team was contacted and responded to neutralize the hazard and collect evidence.
Sheriff Radabaugh made an exerted effort when he took office just over two years ago to rid the county of methamphetamine. This resulted in some known meth users moving from the county and 18 arrests which have all resulted in convictions. Methamphetamine has been very difficult to find in Phillips County since.
“As I publicly stated when I took office, meth is not welcome and will not be tolerated in Phillips County, I am offering a reward up to $1,000 for information which leads to the arrest of meth users and dealers in the county,” said Sheriff Radabaugh. “I will not stand around and watch this county return to what it was prior to my administration,” continued Radabaugh.
Anyone with information of illegal drug activity are encouraged to call or text 785-251-3809. This is a special number which will be answered by deputies working narcotic cases. You may remain anonymous.