“35 freezers and refrigeration units” would run up quite a power bill. I wonder if they have checked the utilities consumption on that building.
If you have nefarious and illegal schemes underway, why would you use a building that was thought to be vacant? Wouldn’t you make sure everything about the property was legal and above-board?
Or are the “hose” and “believed to be vacant” just cover stories by our government?
Something doesn’t smell right with this story.
If you are running a clandestine lab, why *wouldn’t* you use an abandoned building? No one bothers with abandoned buildings. Other than kids who love to tag abandoned structures and homeless squatters who might not bother trying to get in if it is locked securely, abandoned buildings are typically ignored.
On the other hand, going through legal channels to get a building properly purchased and titled, having utilities connected, etc., automatically puts the building under a certain level of official observation. It tells the government who owns the building, which may not be information that clandestine researchers want known.
As for the electricity, they might have been using generators or tapping illegally into the city power supply.