The owners of nine convenience stores and two wholesale suppliers were arrested by law enforcement officers earlier this week accused of selling enough pseudoephedrine to make 300 pounds of methamphetamine.

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The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said yesterday [Wednesday] that more arrests could be expected.


The Spokane-area scandal came about with a new federal law banning the sale of more than three packages of pseudoephedrine products to one customer in a day, for fear that the active ingredient will be used to make methamphetamine.


The DEA said that undercover officers were able to buy around 144 packages each in one go, in stores which were controlled by recent immigrants to the US.
 
US Attorney James McDevitt told the Associated Press that he didn’t know why the investigation showed up only immigrant-owned stores: “The DEA just started following the pseudoephedrine, and that’s where it led us.”

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