NATCHEZ &045; Metro Narcotics officers confirmed Thursday that a residence on Orange Avenue from which they removed chemicals and crystal methamphetamine production materials was a working meth lab.

The Wednesday night operation was a joint effort of Adams County Department of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, the Natchez Police Department, the Metro Narcotics Unit and the Natchez Fire Department, according to Adams County Sheriff Ronny Brown.

Natchez Police and Mississippi Department of Corrects officers went to the duplex to make an arrest on probation violation, and chemicals were discovered by Metro Narcotics officers, who had followed on suspicion there was a lab at the house, officers said.

Billy Britt, 24, 2811 Itasca Drive, and Sandy Coker, 22, 28 1/2 Orange Ave., were arrested on charges of possession of crystal methamphetamine, possession of two or more precursors for making methamphetamines and the manufacturing of a met lab.

Brown said Britt was being sought by authorities before the arrest in connection to a meth lab explosion in Louisiana near Lake St. John.

&uot;It’s a real dangerous situation anytime you get all of these kind of chemicals together in one place. I would have rather that all this would have been done at day when there was light, but the way it went down, we had to do it at night,&uot; Brown said.

Louis Spiller, 42, 15 Jasmine Court, was also arrested for possession of crystal methamphetamine and for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon after a handgun was found in his vehicle.

Officers spent several hours in level-A hazardous material suits removing chemicals combined in the making of crystal methamphetamine, some of which were stored in several mason jars found in the duplex, according to Metro Narcotics Commander Cliff Cox.

He said 4 grams of crystal meth were found in a closet and removed from the residence.

Mason jars were sent to the Mississippi State Crime Lab to determine their content, according to Brown.

Metro narcotics officer Karl Pree said the amount of material found inside the duplex for the manufacturing of crystal meth made the bust significant.

&uot;It was a big bust for a meth lab. We found a lot more than we expected to find in there,&uot; he said.

Brown said authorities were tipped off to the location by neighbors after they reported a strange odor coming from the duplex.

He encouraged anyone who suspects a meth lab due to a strange odor or unexplained smoke to contact the Adams County Sheriff’s Department at 442-2752, the Natchez Police Department at 445-7511, the Metro Narcotics Unit at 442-8333 or Crime Stoppers at 442-5000.