— A dramatic rise in methamphetamine labs prompted a drug roundup netting 18 arrests and additional charges on 12 in jail, police said.

District Attorney Larry Moore issued 99 arrest warrants, and law enforcement served about a third of them Wednesday, said Lt. Andy Simmons, Special Investigations Unit supervisor.

More people will be arrested in “Operation Papa Smurf,” he said. The operation was so named because “Smurf” is street slang for someone who buys pseudoephedrine and takes it to meth cooks, Simmons said.

“We’ve recovered 88 meth labs so far this year,” Simmons said.

Last year the total was about 35, he said.

In addition, there have been about 40 meth labs busted this year in the county, Simmons said.

Methamphetamine is costing the community in many ways, he said.

In the city so far this year, meth labs have caused:

• Five structure fires.

• Two trash trucks to catch on fire from lab residue tossed in dumpsters.

• At least one death, that of David Fine. Fine received burns and injuries received in a meth lab, Simmons said.  Fine died before he could be charged, Simmons said.

Methamphetamine also is believed to have figured in the last shooting death in Muskogee, Simmons said.

Mark Ridley, an investigator in the August shooting death of John Lyman, 41, confirmed that. He said a man arrested as a material witness in Lyman’s death, Lemanuel London, is on the roundup list for purchasing excessive amounts of pseudoephedrine. He was already in jail as a material witness in Lyman’s death.

Meth users and manufacturers make up a big circle in Muskogee, Ridley said.

Police credit the increase in local meth labs to almost a one-bottle “shake and bake” meth manufacturing procedure.

“Ten years ago it took more or less a chemistry lab to manufacture meth,” Simmons said. “Now, it’s more or less a Gatorade bottle, pseudoephedrine and a few more ingredients.”

“We know it (roundup) will slow them down,” Simmons said. “We’re getting cooperation from clerks in retail stores and the public.

“We’ve got to do something. It’s getting dangerous for emergency personnel to have to deal with, even the sanitation workers.”

The last fire-related call was at Motel 6, Simmons said. The meth cookers had disconnected the fire alarm. Someone in an adjoining room noticed the smoke and called the fire department, Simmons said.

“They (manufacturers or cookers) know it gives off a distinct odor — they don’t want to do it at their home,” Simmons said. “They’re pretty slick about it.”

When police find a lab they have to alert the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Simmons said. The DEA then contacts a licensed cleanup crew.

“It takes about half a day, regardless of how big the lab is,” Simmons said.

Muskogee police did the investigations resulting in the roundup warrants, but in addition to the Muskogee Police Special Investigations Unit, the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office, the ATF, the U.S. Marshal’s Office and District 27 Drug Task Force assisted in the arrests, Simmons said.

He also said the results merit doing it again.

Reach Donna Hales at 684-2923 or dhales@muskogeephoenix.com.