A Clanton man was arrested March 11 after allegedly attempting to sell pseudoephedrine pills to an informant.

Pseudoephedrine is one of the chemicals used to make methamphetamine.

David Richardson, 55, was charged with manufacture/sale/transfer of precursor chemicals, which is a felony.

According to information provided by Clanton Police Department, Richardson sold 667 tablets, or 22,110 milligrams, of pseudoephedrine to a police informant while under audio and video surveillance.

“This was enough tablets to produce 33 individual small ‘shake and bake’ labs or seven large ‘one pot cooks,'” CPD Sgt. David Bone said in a press release.

CPD detectives allege the pills were being sold for the purpose of manufacturing methamphetamine.

“This was a controlled buy, and statements were made indicating that everyone knew what the tablets were being purchased for,” CPD Chief Brian Stilwell said in the release.

Recent law changes have made it more difficult to purchase large quantities of pseudoephedrine, so meth cooks have started having people “smurf pills” and purchase them illegally off the street, according to police.

“Methamphetamine is a huge problem and so far this year we have worked more methamphetamine cases and recovered more labs than all of 2013,” CPD Cpl. David Kline said.

Richardson was placed in Chilton County Jail with no bond set as of Wednesday.

Chilton County Sheriff’s Office narcotics investigators helped conduct surveillance of the “controlled buy.”