They had been sitting on the rural ranch property east of San Andreas for days at a time. But on April 4, the countless hours of surveillance paid off and a methamphetamine lab linked to Mexican drug trafficking was captured in a multi-county narcotic raid.

The raid was put into motion just before 11 a.m. that Friday, when 34-year-old Honorio Castillo was spotted entering the property and inspecting the lab site. At that point, agents with the Amador County Combined Narcotics Enforcement Team and Calaveras Narcotics Enforcement Unit moved on Castillo. About two-and-a-half hours after Castillo's arrest, surveillance units at the residence adjacent to the lab site, in the 5000 block of Sadie Lane, detained a vehicle at the intersection of Sadie Lane and Doster Road as it attempted to leave.

Inside the car were suspects Juan Castillo, 38, Juan Godinez, 39, Andres Martinez, 28 and a 17-year-old juvenile whose name wasn't released because of age. While processing the lab site, property owner Enrique Acevedo, 29, was also arrested.

All those arrested were Mexican nationals here illegally, said Jackie Long, task force commander of the Amador team. There were also other signs identifying the lab as belonging to organized Mexican drug traffickers. Search teams uncovered miscellaneous compounds tied to the manufacture of meth, and a hazardous material team dismantled a clandestine lab with the production capability of 10 to 20 pounds of meth per cook. One pound of cut meth has a street value of $17,000, Long explained.

The site also contained a makeshift greenhouse containing 15 marijuana plants and four inactive marijuana cultivation sites. During a search of the lab, agents found 1.2 pounds of processed marijuana. Multiple firearms were also seized.

The five sludge pits and single burn pit, along with other evidence, suggested the lab had been active for about three years and connected to several dump sites in the vicinity. Long said these sites, where chemical waste is dumped after meth is processed, are highly toxic. Two cows and two horses were located within the contamination zone.

All suspects face multiple drug trafficking charges and were booked at the Calaveras County Jail on $150,000 bail apiece.