SALINE COUNTY, Ark. (KTHV) - Saline County authorities are calling it one of the largest meth labs that they've ever discovered. They found it in an abandoned old bread truck in the Sardis area earlier this week.
A tip into the Saline County Sheriff's Office sent authorities to that truck at a home along Gravel Ridge Road on Monday. Authorities say it was a big mess and nowhere near your run-of-the-mill meth lab.
Driving by this lot Friday night, it's hard to get a clear shot of the home along Gravel Ridge Road near Sardis. The home is buried behind a ton of brush and recently hit up by authorities.
"Our narcotics officers went to check it out and found a large abandoned lab," Lt. Scott Courtney said.
It was a big find by the Saline County Sheriff's Office after a citizen tip. Lt. Courtney says it was all in an old bread truck and abandoned for a couple years.
"On the low end, this was probably five or six of our normal labs put together," Lt. Courtney said.
Lt. Courtney says, inside the bread truck, were tools to make meth and the leftover trash from the process.
"It was in the hundreds of pounds in byproduct material," Lt. Courtney said.
Neighbors we talked to for this story Friday night didn't want to go on camera. But they all told us that they were shocked by the recent discovery on this property. One neighbor added that she remembered that bread truck in the drive way here for years.
"We know who owned the property and we're still making an attempt to locate where they are and try to get in contact with them," Lt. Courtney said.
It's communication that will answer a lot of questions around here and clear up a mess covered by another one.
Through the Saline County Real Estate Office, we were able to find the listed owner of the property. The information print out we obtained included an alternate billing address in Haskell. We went there Friday night and the homeowners said that no one lives there by the name from the listing.
Lt. Courtney also says this was the first time authorities ever responded to that property along Gravel Ridge Road. He also says a contractor came this week to clean up the old bread truck and the sheriff's office will eventually get rid of it.