More meth labs: Blount authorities find labs in two locations
By Wes Wade | (wes.wade@thedailytimes.com)
Authorities found several meth labs at two separate areas in Blount County Wednesday evening, marking the fourth such discoveries in less than a week.
Deputies and investigators with the Blount County Sheriff’s Office and 5th Judicial Drug Task Force were called to residences on Arabian Lane and Nails Creek Road, where several “one pot” meth labs were found.
At around 5:30 p.m., police responded to Arabian Lane after a resident discovered a suspicious laptop bag in the bushes near his home. Once authorities arrived, they discovered the black nylon bag contained several precursors used to make methamphetamine. Evidence showed the materials had been used to cook the drug recently, authorities said.
The resident who called police said he and his family only moved in about a month ago and are now looking to move after the frightening discovery.
“It looked kind of like a bomb,” said the man, who wished to remain unidentified. “I didn’t know what it was until the law got here and said, ‘Back up, it’s a meth lab.’”
The resident said he was particularly worried about his three kids. The man’s wife had walked out to dump some old food in the bushes nearby when she saw the bag and went inside to inform her husband of the suspicious discovery.
“You see this stuff on the news every day, but you never think it’s gonna be in your back yard,” he said.
A news release from the Blount County Sheriff’s Office said that shortly after responding to the Arabian Lane lab, authorities were dispatched to a residence on Nails Creek Road. There they found four separate “one pot” labs in a detached garage. Just as with the first lab, it appeared the labs had been used recently to manufacture meth, authorities said.
The components at each scene were inventoried and neutralized. At the time of the release, investigators were still waiting for the Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force to respond to both scenes to properly dispose of the labs.
The investigation into both discoveries is ongoing.
Authorities discovered a meth lab inside a room at the Executive Lodge in Alcoa last Friday and another lab was located near Kmart on McCammon Avenue Saturday. Wednesday’s discoveries marked the fourth time police have responded to lab sites in 2013, all of which have happened less than a week apart.
