>> show me your hands, now! >> it's a turf war over middle america's most toxic drug. some will do anything to get it. >> smoking in a methamphetamine lab, do you think that's smart? >> and a hometown team of elite cops will do anything to fight it. >> you're going to jail. >> oh, my lord. >> they are the meth busters.

>> this could get ugly quick. franklin county, missouri, is a picture postcard place of rolling hills, quiet farms and main street parades. but beneath the all-american surface, a battle rages. >> we're headed there now. >> against one of the most addictive drugs known to man, meth. on the front line of that battle, enforcement unit. today they're in nearby st. louis on a stake out.

>> we're set up. >> sounds good. >> they plan to follow a local dealer back to franklin county, take down a meth syndicate. detective lewis doesn't like the setup. it's vulnerable. >> you've got three vehicles trying to roll surveillance without getting popped in downtown. red necks and pickup trucks. >> lucas started out with an undercover cop before joining the unit as a detective. he is here, backing up detective corporal scott briggs, and detectives murley and blankenship. >> i got eyes on him. >> the deal they have been waiting for is on. >> they're over in a dark, gray-colored car.

you've got in the backseat, driver's side backseat. >> two door or four door? >> little four door, because he got in the backseat behind the driver. they got the windows down. all hanging out. okay. they're leaving. target's leaving, rental car headed directly at me. >> all right. we'll catch up with you. >> but is something has done wrong. >> he just made a u-turn. coming back at murley. >> murley will have to get him. >> he's on him. >> he knows we're here, bud. might as well take him. >> yeah, he knows. might as well pull him over. >> okay. let's take him here. >> show me your hands. >> you got a gun? don't reach on it. don't reach on it. >> i got it on your head. >> give it to me. >> get your hands out there have. >> you better not have a gun on you, son. you have a gun on you?

put those hands where i can see them. get on the ground. >> cuff them right now. >> you know what i want. >> after days of surveillance and the three-car tail, today's bust yields a bag of over-the-counter pills. yet these pills are the first link in illegal food chain that ends in meth. a toxic brew of chemicals turns

this medicine called sudaphedrine, into meth. >> sudaphedrine, i'll make you meth in about 45 minutes. >> sergeant yavjason grilner. >> started off my clemg career as a chemical engineer and ended up a cop, breaking my poor parents' heart. >> it may look less than imposing. more downhome country boys than special forces. >> show me your hands, now! >> they have busted more than 800 meth labs since 2005 in franklin county. over 100 a year .

>> do you understand that, ma'am? >> i would put them up against any other meth unit in the country. >> they look like meth sores to me, bro sbch. and i've seen a lot of them. >> meth users are often paranoid, armed and dangerous. >> a lot of investigations we get involved in is because the place catches fire or explodes. >> the chemical cocktail used to make meth is highly flammable and can ignite in an instant. >> in 2002, i made a mistake after working about 30 hours straight and opened a bottle i shouldn't have opened. >> grilner lost a quarter of his lung capacity in the accident.

the damage was permanent. though missouri leads the country in reported incidents, meth labs are on the rise nationwide, mostly in rural areas. >> they ygenerally don't have te size of law enforcement that urban areas are. >> don't try any funny business. >> for grilner, it means controlling access to its main ingredient. >> if i give you all the ingredients, but not sudaphedrine, you'll make a hell of a mess, but it won't be methamphetamine. >> tracking purchases of drugs that contain sudaphedrine, but

savvy drug dealers found a black market, create iing a market fo cold pills. the suspects that the unit caught in st. louis with cold pills were just that, pill broker brokers. >> you're being charged with conspiracy to possess sudaphedrine knowing it would be used to make meth. you're just a pill broker. how much are you paid?

[ inaudible ] >> a franklin county meth syndicate has been buying from this broker for over a year. >> how many do you think you've been giving him? it wouldn't surprise you if it was over 1,000 boxes. so you made about $45,000 off him? that's a pretty good business. >> they'll help franklin county take down one of the meth syndicates. most of the unit's cases tarts with suspicious purchases in the pill tracking database. finds a is suspect who has also been buying a suspicious amount of cold pills. it could be worth pursupursuing

>> where are we going? >> st. claire. >> sounds good. >> last name -- has warrants for his arrest. we will arrest him on the warrants and then talk to him about his sudaphedrine purchases. >> that's what i was looking for. >> oh, not them guys. oh, man! >> have you checked him yet for warrants? how are you doing? >> who's car? >> what do you mean, what did you do? relax. relax. mr. nash, i'm detective briggs. i work for the narcotics unit. who was driving the car today?

>> i was. >> but you didn't have a license? >> no. >> okay. >> after a few minutes of interrogation, nash confesses to buying sudaphedrine. >> i bought a box. >> what? >> i bought a box. >> where is it? >> it's gone. >> did you sell it? >> yeah. >> in the meth trade, people like insure are kuled s ee eed >> oi'm going to let the other two go.

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confessed to buying and selling sudaphedrine for meth producti productio production. >> why should i do that, man? because i think -- i think -- i think you're going to railroad me. >> you want to get a bond reduction. you want an o.r.? there's lots of things. you give us the information. that's how the game is played. >> it's off to the side where you can't see the place. >> it's in a residence? >> oh, no. it's in a house. >> in the house? you're sure of this?

>> i'm sure. >> when did you see this? >> it's been a while. i haven't been there for a while. >> what's a while? >> a month or so. one, two three, four, five, six -- eight, nine. probably eight, nine. >> they were all going? >> yeah, yeah, they got them all going. >> best thing is to go out there at night. you go out there right now. >> the part i seen, yes. >> who is this person's name? >> i'm bad at names. good at faces, but bad at names. i've been hit by a truck so i've got short-term memory loss, man. >> appreciate you working with us today. >> i hope you work with me, man. >> we will, like briggs told you. if we go out there and you're

feeding us some line [ bleep ]. >> i'm not feeding you a line. >> listen to me. if we do, we'll help you out. he is a man of his word. >> i will get you you'll find something. >> nash is a franklin county local. like scott and cody, he's married and has kids, yet their paths are completely different. >> i don't want my kids around it. i don't know, man. it's just -- i done it when i was younger. i did my first line when i was 10 years old. one thing leads to another and then, bam, this is where i'm at. stuff does a lot of damage to people. tears your life apart.

this is where you end up when you [ bleep ] pills. >> some people i feel sorry for. others, i don't. their world is a completely different world than ours. he has been around this stuff for so long and hasn't made a choice to get away from it. i really can't feel too sorry. we all make our own choices. it's just hard to imagine living the way that these people live. >> over 35 years of witnessing the darkness of the drug world, don has learned the value of bonding with his team, especially cody. >> what are you doing, mutt? >> cody is just about my best friend. >> good judge of character.

>> he is a blast. >> redneck. >> oh, no. >> have a chair, stevie. >> any one of us at any one time would push the other out of the way and take a bullet, without a doubt. >> i got the tune in my head now. >> cody and scott follow up on nash's tip and head to the location where nash says there's a meth lab. ♪ i knew that she was busy and my timin' wasn't right but i said mom, please, can we go cause tomorrow's the last night ♪

god, it's been 15 years since i've tried to sing that one. we got information that the individual is manufacturing methamphetamine, he has had several going at one time. this individual is allowing people to use his property to manufacture meth and in return, he retains a little bit of finished meth for his addiction. >> you never know about these people, if they're setting you up, you're walking into a trap. you just don't ever know. >> if nash's tip is right and there are nine active meth labs in one house, this could get explosive. waiting to look young? don't wait. [ female announcer ] get younger looking skin fast. with new olay regenerist micro-sculpting cream. the next generation with 2 new anti-aging ingredients. it penetrates rapidly.

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scott and cody arrive at the location nash fingered as a meth lab. >> sheriff's office. i need to talk to you. >> it looks the part. >> how are you doing, bud?

is anybody else here? who is your girlfriend? my guys are watching the back door. who has been coming over and hanging out here? >> nobody. >> the rumor is that people have been coming over. >> there's nobody. >> i just need to verify there's no meth lab. you're going not going to let m through? that's how it works. >> we're going to go. not going to let us in. can't do it. >> nash's tip is not enough alone for a search warrant. the team recognizes the homeowner and girlfriend from previous meth related run-ins. >> there's probably something

there. >> no doubt there's something there. they didn't want us in the house. we'll get them another time. >> scott has since arrested both suspects for manufacturing meth. >> now we can go home and go to be bed. >> for cody, going home means spending time at his second job, policing the tiny town of edgar springs, missouri. >> there were two things i always said i wanted to do, be in the music industry and if i couldn't do that, have a real job, which would be law enforcement. i played music almost 11 years.

those were the days. >> but he is settled down, back in his hometown with his wife and seven kids. >> the only place i would say i'm truly at my calmest hour is when i'm with my family. >> look at you guys go. >> if i didn't have my time at home and wife and everything, lord have mercy on the thugs is all i can say. >> there you go. i knew it as soon as it hit the wate water. >> my wife worries a lot. lot of long hours. she knows how dangerous it is. >> it all comes with the job. comes with the territory. you just learn how to cope with

it. i've got to keep the family together while he's working and doing what he does. >> does that make you happy? used to, i not wear my -- i shouldn't say this, but it was like, i don't need to wear no kevlar. i'm a fast draw. i ain't worried about it. i do things a little different now. i couldn't imagine my poor wife trying to raise seven kids by herself. i take all my precautions. >> they're keeping people safe. that's what these guys are out here to do. they're looking out for my future, looking out for my kids' futur future. >> for cody and the team,

keeping people safe comes down to watching and waiting. >> now he's running. >> some days they watch low-level drug deals to establish patterns. >> the boy is running back up. they just did something hand-to-hand. kind of a hand pass. >> this is our dumb white boys. >> others, they go straight for the main target, like suspected meth cook dylan carter, who has a history of violence. scott briggs has been tracking carter for nine months. now his search may finally be over. the suspect matching carter's decision and three accomplices have been spotted at a nearby farm.

scott has been doing wans on the property. >> we did a drive by. >> this barn is gone, right? >> yes. in reference, it's gone. >> getting a clear view will be challenging. the farm is shadowed by trees. >> back in the woods. you can barely see it from the roa road. >> the location is tricky. guns fired repeatedly in the night. four suspects, armed, dangerous and bunkered in a property wired with multiple security cameras. pulling off a raid this risky will take more men and a lot more muscle.

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good morning, everybody. i'm betty nguyen. cooler temperatures had helped in the fight against the 42 square mile blaze, which officials say is now 25% contained. arlington texas, police say a woman died when she fell from a roller coaster at six flags amusement park. there appears to be no foul play. park officials are trying to determine the cause of this tragic accident. now back to "methbusters." scott and jason meet with the emergency response team or ert to help plan a raid on the large-scale meth lab.

ert has already made two surveillance sweeps. >> we've been there twice in two and a half weeks. both times they were outside between 1:00 and 4:00 in the morning. they yust come out at odd hours of the night. >> the raid will require ert snipers with night vision, high-powered weapons and the element of surprise. >> give some cover. so the plan that we came up with is the sniper observers bring a containment team into the woods around midnight. once we get that containment in there -- >> scott will step in once the human threat is gone to make sure the meth lab doesn't pose a chemical threat. ert needs one more intense planning to pull off this operation.

>> we'll talk to you tomorrow. >> all right. while the ert works on the raid plan, scott gets back to his caseload. >> i knew when i was a young child i was going to be a police officer and i was going to work in this county. since i grew up here, i was coming back here. i like every aspect of this job. >> oh, my lord, the stench coming out of there will kill you. >> fast pace. things are fluid. they're always changing. >> where is it? >> i ain't bought a box in six months. >> i've been doing this job 17 years. people don't try meth one time

and then just quit. i had a 9:00 to 5:00 job in a factory, like most people do around here, that would drive me up a wall. i couldn't do it. >> as second in command of the franklin county narcotics unit, scott oversees multiple investigations every day. >> what are you doing there? >> scott's in front of him. just tenacious. never stops. >> come here. why do you smell like ether? >> i don't smell like ether . >> calendars and watches mean nothing to the dealers. scott believes they should mean nothing to us. >> it's 12:38 am. i've been on the clock -- let's see. about 16 hours straight. >> a married father of two, scott suffers from a kidney disease and had a transplant in

2011. >> 12-11-52. >> i was recuperating, wanting to get out there, get back to work. calling the guys, finding out what investigations they're working on. some of them quit answering their phones when they saw it was me. felt like a puppy chained to the post. >> we're looking for a wanted person and you picked him up in your car. >> i went to the gas station. >> you just told me you dropped him off. are you going to keep lying to me? >> scott uncovers a portable meth lab. >> a one-pot methamphetamine lab. liquid flammable solvent. black specs are the chunks of material of the lithium. a small amount, couple of grams of methamphetamine in this liquid right now.

been a long day. i'm ready to go home, get some rest and will be ready to do it again in the morning. >> it's the day of the big raid. make or break time for scott to finally catch dylan carter. >> the ert has a team of highly

trained officers, led by tj wild. >> here are the four people we're looking for. we have to know them on sight, okay? be sure you know who they are. >> number one, christopher grant, white male. dylan carter, white male. crystal, white female. sandra lowridge, white female. their regulation has uncovered ap older style methamphetamine lab on the property. they possess a military-tile rifle, handgun and some form of .22 caliber firearm. the neighbor has also reported the suspect shooting a handgun at odd hours of the night, same timeframe that we are going to be there. >> in short -- >> roll out. >> -- it could be a tough night.

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it's go time for the raid on dylan carter and his accomplices. scott briggs and emergency response team leader tj wild are stationed in the woods while the surveillance team moves in on the property. >> we're probably three-quarters of a mile away from the target location now. and they're probably within 200 yards or less. >> the surveillance team is trying to confirm the suspects are on sight without blowing cover. otherwise, dylan carter and the other targets could escape, or

worse -- start a shootout. after two hours, the lead sniper reports in. >> we've got intelligence back that there's lights on in the house. now we're just in a wait and see mode, see what kind of information they can gather as far as if one of our wanted suspects is there. >> they need to confirm at least one suspect is home before storming the property. >> okay, bye. >> there is a female in the residence that turned the lights off in the front of the house and most of our people can get around the house and contain any suspects that may leave when this goes down. >> scott has been tracking carter for nine months, but these are the longest hours of his investigation.

>> there's movement at the house and at the shed behind there. >> they may start cooking methamphetamine tonight. that would be what i was hoping for, that we get all four warrants arrested and a meth lab all in one night. >> close. close, close, close. >> the snipers have spotted one female nye the house about one male outside. but still no positive i.d.s. >> somebody was outside. and some person is either back in the barn or still out of the grass. the team leaders were watching him. the one on the north side last

sight. gl and the other was at the shed? >> i don't know. >> finally, the call they've been waiting for. the surveillance team smells toxic fumes from an active meth la lab. >> they got it going right now. [ bleep ] >> that's what we wanted. >> there's a lab in the shed. there's a pretty strong odor coming from it. they want us to pull in the drive so they can be out of the woods at the same time we're pulling in the drive and get it done. >> sheriff's office. come out with your hands up! do it now! >> one of the suspects locks himself in the shed where the meth lab is set up.

then sets the building on fire. >> 1175, smoke coming from the building. >> with all the chemicals brewing the shed is a giant bomb. >> coming forward. >> scott races to put out the fire before the lab explodes. >> holy [ bleep ]. i got the fire out! >> fire's out! >> the team arrests christopher grant and his girlfriend, sandra lawbridge, but dylan carter, the one guy they really wanted, is nowhere to be found. three weekends. asthma doesn't affect my job... you missed the meeting again last week! it doesn't affect my family. your coughing woke me up again. i wish you'd take me to the park. i don't use my rescue inhaler a lot... depends on what you mean by a lot.

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scott briggs and the emergency response team have

arrested two of dylan carter's accomplices at a meth lab. now scott needs information. >> you're sandra lawbridge, correct? >> yes. >> lot of dope has been cooked here. >> i don't know anything about that. >> you want to play games? >> i don't play no games with police. >> you're going to jail. good morning, mr. grant. do you wish to talk to me? yes or no? okay. who you did the fire start? smoking in a methamphetamine lab? do you think that's pretty smart? where is dylan carter? tell me where dylan is at. i need to get him off the streets before he hurts somebody. is he armed ? what's he armed with? a .45 pistol and assault rifle? what kind? high point? what if he kills a family? what if he kills one of my officers? you're going to live with that. >> grant wants to deal. is he willing to trade carter's location for his girlfriend's

release. >> let her walk. >> i can't promise you anything right here right now. >> i get dylan and then we talk. until i get dylan in handcuffs, no, i'm not promising you anything. you have ten minutes to decide what you're doing for the rest of your life. >> scott knows when to press hard for information and when to back off. he take ace break to update the ert team leader. >> i'm going to let him sit for a minute. >> he knows where he's at. >> i know. >> scott returns and hammers grant again for carter's location. >> i'm on a time crunch, bud. come here. come here. i need it now. no more stalling. give me the location. what motel? >> get it over with.

>> okay. okay. >> 302 and sullivan right now. >> ert teams moves to the motel room and will wait for carter to come out to avoid a shootout and possible hostage situation. scott stays on the scene of the meth lab. >> toxic fumes have finally dissipated, allowing him to safely examine the evidence. >> the tank. >> propane tanks are used to store the anhydrous ammonia needed to make meth.

this is no little one-pot meth lab. tonight's raid has shut down a substantial operation. but for scott it's only half a victory without dylan carter. >> i wanted to see that all four suspects were in custody. it was kind of a letdown to find out that only two were there. i think we will be able to take the other two in custody some time later today. >> for now, all scott can do is take the evidence back to the office and wait.

>> i would like to have one of those, too, for going out to wyoming. >> six hours after the arrests of christopher grant and sandra lawbridge, scott gets a call from the ert commander. >> hey? >> yeah? >> we have dylan. 10:45, there was a short pursuit. he crashed into a light pole right here between cracker barrel and jack in the box. dylan got out, threw the gun down in the ditch, walked over into the baseball park and they surrounded him. he gave up without incident. >> after a nine-month investigation, dylan carter is finally in custody. now scott needs the hard evidence to keep him behind

bars. carter's smashed car has been towed to a local lot. >> that's nice. i don't think i could ever carry that much money around since i got married and have two kids. this is a professional handcuff, smith and wesson handcuff key. you always need one of those when you're running from the police. that is a handle off a propane cylinder. this is actually a one-pot methamphetamine lab. that is trapped in the liquid somewhere. they want the liquid and will extract the meth out of the liquid. there's probably close to 30

grams there, about an ounce. about $3,000. >> drugs, money and a possible portable meth lab. everything scott was hoping to find. >> how are you? you want to go back to the station and do it, though? >> yeah. >> that's fine. >> scott and lieutenant johnson of the sullivan police size up the legal case against carter. >> lithium batteries. some type of a laser sight for some type of firearm. two boxes of pills. $810. >> with his criminal history, five years, starting point ten years, 15. he is in the 15 to 20 year range. that is the icing on top of the cake. doesn't get any better than that. >> if the recovered substances test positive for meth, the team will seek federal charges against carter and his three

accomplice accomplices. >> that is dope. >> meth, he says. >> that's cool. >> scan 282 at 11:09. positive for meth. >> there's a chunk there. >> 11:16 am is a meth. trafficking felony. we need to call the prosecutor and judge and know we found them trafficking with a federal amount of dope. >> dylan carter and the other suspects are innocent unless proven guilty in court but for the team the evidence stacks up to a strong case.

suspected major player in the meth game is is out of circulation. at least for now. >> nobody got hurt. the bad guys wept s went to ja. got a lot of dope off the street. >> tonight's raid was a big win for the franklin county narcotics enforcement unit. but the battle is far from over. >> i never had -- >> don't lie. >> swear to god. >> lightning will strike you. >> one we catch, there's ten more they taught how to cook, smuggle or use. we're asking simple questions and getting jerked around. >> i look at what we're doing as we're holding the line. if it wasn't for us, they would take over the county in a short period of time. >> we're fighting for normal, everyday people that don't make meth, that hopefully sleep better at night in their beds because we do the things that we

do. the president, the zimmerman trial and race. let's play "hardball." i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. what we saw at the white house today was something many people have been waiting for, president obama speaking out clearly, forcefully and emotionally about the trayvon martin case. it was the president addressing race in a way that only he, uniquely among american presidents, could giving his first on-camera comments about a story that has sparked a on