Officers in Poplar Bluff area find abandoned meth labs

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Local narcotics officers hope fingerprints may lead them to the alleged methamphetamine manufacturers that recently left their labs abandoned.

SEMO Drug Task Force officer P.R. Neely said the recovery of abandoned labs and lab materials is a common occurrence.

Within the last week, local authorities have had two such occurrences.

According to Neely, when Poplar Bluff police officers responded to the area of Pike and Nickey streets at about 1 p.m. Monday, they found a 48-quart Igloo-type cooler along a small wooded area near an alley. It contained what they believed to be a methamphetamine lab. Neely and police narcotics detective Kevin Elledge "went down there and recovered a cooler containing numerous chemicals and meth in various stages of production," Neely said.

Poplar Bluff Police Detective Gary Pride processed the lab for fingerprints, said Neely. The case is still under investigation, he said.

Officers are also investigating a suspected lab that was found abandoned in the county on Saturday afternoon.

At about 2 p.m., Butler County Lt. Scott Johnston said, he responded to a location on County Road 360 to assist a deputy who had been called about a lab in a barn.

Inside the barn, which was in a wooded area, officers found about "two ounces of methamphetamine that was in the stages of drying out," Johnston said. "There were acid generators, filters and other items present identifying this as being a cooking area that had been used before."

The items were "out in the open" in different areas of the barn, Johnston said.

Johnston said information was later obtained identifying a possible suspect. Charges are pending fingerprint analysis, he said.