Officers discover meth lab Wednesday

DOE RUN — The Mineral Area Drug Task Force, Missouri Highway Patrol and the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department worked together to take down a meth lab Wednesday night.

“It’s a guy we’ve gotten several times in the past for manufacturing meth,” said Donnie Crump of the state highway patrol. “We got information he was cooking again.”

Crump said the man actually had a warrant so they set up surveillance of his property.

“We saw people carrying stuff in and out,” he said.

When officers knocked on the door, the man opened the door and officers could smell a chemical odor inside. He gave them permission to search the property.

Officers found what Crump described as a “pretty decent size lab.” The man was in the process of cooking meth.

“There was a pretty large amount of finished meth in there as well,” he said.

The Mineral Area Drug Task Force plans to meet with the prosecuting attorney’s office today to request trafficking charges.

While that man was the only one in the residence at the time, officers arrested another man in connection with the lab. He could face drug-related charges, as well.