MOULTRIE — A man was arrested Friday night while allegedly making an ounce of methamphetamines in a homemade lab, Colquitt County authorities said.

Doyle West, 29, 356 Zion Grove Church Road, Meigs, was charged with the manufacturing of methamphetamines. He was already on probation in Mitchell County for methamphetamine-related charges, sheriff’s office investigators said.

Both Mitchell and Colquitt County drug squads have been watching West for more than two months, gathering information from the community and from each other.

“The investigations came to a head Friday night,” Joey Autry, a Mitchell County drug agent, said.

Jerry Green, Colquitt County Drug Enforcement Team (CCDET) commander, said West had the laboratory set up in a camper behind his home.

“He would’ve made about an ounce if he would’ve finished,” he said.

A hazardous materials company from Augusta that contracted with the Georgia Drug Enforcement Agency cleaned up the site and confiscated all materials West was allegedly using to produce the highly addictive narcotic.

The street value of an ounce of methamphetamine, also known as “crank,” is between $1,000 and $1,500, Green said.

Methamphetamines are a variation of amphetamines that stimulate the central nervous system.

Mitchell County authorities were already on the scene when the CCDET arrived about 11 p.m. Friday.

“He was very cooperative,” Green said. “It was very unusual … he just told us where everything was. It wasn’t like the typical drug bust, where we have to bust in doors and raid the place.”

Green said smaller drug labs are more difficult to raid than large ones.

“They can be dismantled and done away with very quickly,” he said. “They can destroy the evidence almost immediately, and small labs don’t involve as many people.”

A number of labs have been busted in Colquitt County, with the most recent being one on Loyd Road in early December. That lab was able to produce about five ounces, sheriff’s reports said.

Stacey Renee Collins, 30, 711 Loyd Road, and Ronnie Lamar Fields, 39, 261 Larry Dunn Road, were arrested in that raid.

Green cites the increasing use of meth as the reason the labs are springing up more often.

“(Methamphetamines) are the stimulants of choice … because it’s easier and cheaper to produce,” Green said. “A lot of folks who have been dealing with crack cocaine seem to be going toward methamphetamines.”

Several recipes are out there, he said, and just about anyone who is willing to take the chance can make it.

Green said the main ingredients needed to make the drug are ephedrine, anhydrous ammonia, camper fuel and lithium extracted from batteries.

“They will buy large quantities of over-the-counter drugs that contain ephedrine, so they can extract the ephedrine and mix it together with the other ingredients,” he said.

Anhydrous ammonia is used to make fertilizers and can be found at fertilizer companies.

Sheriff Al Whittington said that Colquitt County has joined forces with other counties in efforts to weed out any remaining labs and keep any future labs from starting.

When asked why labs have been so popular in this region, Whittington replied: “Because we’re a rural community and anhydrous ammonia is readily available.”

“We’ve contacted larger companies that distribute anhydrous ammonia so maybe they could secure it better,” he said.

Some fertilizer companies in Moultrie have been the victims of anhydrous ammonia thefts. Thieves risk their lives breaking into the tanks that harbor the gas that’s so crucial in the making of meth. A leak in the tank or valve could easily kill the thief and contaminate the air, resulting in an environmental emergency for the surrounding area.

“That’s the beginning of the dangers. Just the theft of the anhydrous is a huge risk,” Green said.