SYRACUSE — Federal authorities say two dozen people have been indicted in a crackdown on the manufacturing and selling of methamphetamines in three central New York counties.

Officials announced in Syracuse Tuesday that they had arrested 16 of 24 people named in a federal indictment stemming from their purchases of cold medicine in pharmacies in Oswego, Oneida and Madison counties.

Authorities say the suspects made multiple over-the-counter purchases of pseudoephedrine knowing it was going to be used to make meth.

Police say nearly 70 meth labs have been found in New York state so far this year, with about half of them located in the three central New York counties targeted in the investigation.