Federal agents have launched an international crackdown on illegal steroid labs and the Internet suppliers of raw steroid powder and steroid conversion kits, authorities announced on Monday.

In the crackdown, three steroid labs in the Los Angeles area were raided and two people arrested, police said.

A two-year investigation, dubbed "Operation Raw Deal", began after a previous operation shut down the illegal importation of anabolic steroids by major Mexican manufacturers and distributors, authorities said.

Underground facilities filled the void by ordering raw steroid powders from foreign sources and manufactured their steroid products in makeshift labs in basements, garages and kitchens.

As part of the operation, agents raided Luxtech Lab in Torrancein the Los Angeles area, breaking up a steroid lab and an indoor marijuana farm. Agents seized automatic rifles, shotguns, several thousand rounds of ammunition, two kilograms of liquid steroids, 60 vials of manufactured steroids and hundreds of empty vials, authorities said.

Two people were arrested and charged with possession of steroids and narcotics for sale, illegal possession of firearms in furtherance of narcotic sales and child endangerment, since an 11-year-old child was found living at the location.

Two other labs were also searched, leading to the seizure of more steroids and raw materials, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In San Diego, 14 people were charged, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Coughlin called the conditions in the underground labs unsanitary and "horrifying".

The underground labs list their products on Internet bodybuilding Web sites, chat rooms and discussion boards, the link through which potential steroid users gains access to information on dosing instructions, how to order, how to avoid detection by law enforcement and how to create underground labs, prosecutors said.

Since the operations began in December 2005, more than 50 underground labs have been dismantled and 124 steroid traffickers have been arrested, authorities said.

In addition, assets totaling more than 6.5 million dollars in U.S. currency have been seized and hundreds of thousands of vials and pills of anabolic steroids have been confiscated, authorities said.

"This painstaking investigation and the resulting indictments mark an important turning point in the coordinated work of our federal law enforcement agencies throughout the nation to disrupt and expose the illegal importation and distribution of anabolic steroids using the Internet,'' said Karen P. Hewitt, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California.

Hewitt said the takedown of the underground labs marked a step toward stopping the distribution of illegal steroids on the Internet.