Quincy bust reveals drug lab, guns, explosives

QUINCY — A bust at a home near Quincy yielded guns, explosives and a multi-faceted drug manufacturing operation, according to a statement from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. Jason Robert Besel, 43, of Quincy was arrested on various drug charges as a result of the bust. 

The investigation by detectives from the Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team at a residence in the 15000 block of Road 9 Northwest started April 21, according to GCSO Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman, following a domestic violence report at the residence the night before. As Besel was being arrested on suspicion of fourth-degree assault — domestic violence, deputies received information that drug manufacturing was taking place on the property, Foreman said. 

Once deputies walked through the property and found that drugs were being manufactured there, they called in the Washington State Patrol SWAT team, which is responsible for clandestine drug lab response. The investigation was interrupted by the discovery of a hand grenade and several explosives. The WSP bomb squad determined that the grenade did not contain explosives. The other explosives were consumer- and commercial-grade fireworks and explosive-making materials. The bomb squad removed the explosive-making materials.  

The fireworks were left at the home because there was no legal reason to remove them, the GCSO wrote in the statement. 

Over the next couple of days, INET and the WSP SWAT Team found and removed a methamphetamine lab, a DMT lab and a psilocybin mushroom grow operation, according to Foreman. All were seized as evidence. The remnants of a marijuana grow operation were also found, but having no evidentiary value, it was left in place. INET seized 29 guns found inside buildings on the property, according to the statement. 

DMT is a potent hallucinogenic drug classified as a Schedule I controlled substance in the 1970s due to its potential for misuse, potentially dangerous effects and potential for the development of psychological dependence, the GCSO wrote. DMT has no known medicinal uses and can only be legally obtained for research purposes with special permissions from the DEA and the Food and Drug Administration. 

Besel was arrested on suspicion of manufacturing and distributing meth, manufacturing and distributing DMT and manufacturing and distributing psilocybin mushrooms, according to the GCSO statement. He has since been released from the Grant County Jail after posting $100,000 bail. 

Apart from illegal marijuana grows, drug manufacturing in Grant County is very uncommon, Foreman said. He estimated it had been about 15 years since a methamphetamine lab had been discovered in the county. The reason, he said, is that Washington law tightly restricts the materials used in manufacturing the drug, making it easier to acquire meth trafficked across the border from Mexico. 

The lab near Quincy came as a surprise, Foreman said.  

“He was not on the radar,” Foreman said. “We may never have known that was happening there had the (domestic) incident not occurred.” 

Anyone who suspects that drugs are being manufactured or distributed in Grant County is encouraged to call the INET Tip Line at 509-754-2011 ext. 2395, Foreman said. Tipsters can remain anonymous.