Separate meth lab busts nets 7 arrests

GULF SHORES, Alabama (WALA) - Gulf Shores Police arrest seven people within 24 hours for cooking meth. Two operating meth labs were shut down in the process.

Late Sunday night, a Gulf Shores police officer was making a routine traffic stop near 20th Avenue. The driver of the car was being pulled over for following too closely. The driver didn't stop though, and led the officer on a short chase.

"A small police pursuit ensued, and at the end of it when the subject was apprehended, inside his vehicle was found what's called a rolling meth lab, or a mobile meth lab," Gulf Shores Police Lieutenant Bill Cowan said.

As a result, one man was arrested.

Shortly after the chase ended and police found the rolling meth lab on Canal Road, they found another lab at the Microtel on Highway 59.

Lt. Cowan said his officers received a tip around noon Monday. The caller said they could smell chemicals burning inside the hotel.

"It was a very distinctive smell. When they approached the door where it smelled like it was coming from, someone opened the door and they could see everything they needed to see," Cowan said.

Police said the chemicals and tools used to cook the drug where found inside the room. Six people, both men and women, were arrested at the hotel.

"They had not made it to the distribution stage yet. The one at the Microtel was at the end of the cooking stage, so the product was there and then we interrupted them and fortunately they aren't going to get to sell that product," explained Cowan.

The magistrate signed off on the warrants and charges Monday evening. That information should be available Tuesday.