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Sheriffs bust meth lab in Somerville

By Lori Brown - bio | email | Twitter | Facebook

SOMERVILLE, TN (WMC-TV) - Authorities busted a meth located directly across the street from a grocery store Tuesday evening in Somerville.

At first glance, it looked like a pile of trash.  But what Fayette County sheriffs found inside a Somerville house Tuesday were the materials needed to make a lot of meth.

Investigators found the materials after receiving a tip,and carrying out a search warrant.

The operators of the lab appeared to use a new method of creating meth which is gaining popularity.  "Shake and bake" allows people to make meth in a soda bottle.

"It's a quicker simpler method a lot of the meth cooks have gone too," said Inspector Ray Garcia of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department. "It requires less components but it is no less dangerous."

A melted soda bottle was an example of how dangerous a meth lab can be.  Had the explosion been bigger, it could have been deadly.

"This is the same method used in an open meth lab that exploded several months ago," Garcia said.

Tuesday night, a burnt smell filled the air of the Somerville house, off Highway 64.

"There is an odor that's put off, a chemical smell that's put off in the process a lot of people will tell you it smells like ether," Garcia said. "That may be part of what you're smelling. It's a hazardous process."

Investigators said they found signs of eight cooking sessions in the house, but there won't be any more - the house is now under quarantine.

Tuesday's meth bust was the fifth in Fayette County this year, compared with none in 2008.

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