Maine drug agents raided two suspected methamphetamine labs in Oxford County on Friday morning and arrested eight people on charges of trafficking and manufacturing the drug, a Maine State Police spokesman said.

Stephen McCausland announced the arrests Friday afternoon, hours after Maine Drug Enforcement Agency officers, along with Oxford County sheriff’s deputies and state troopers, executed search warrants at five houses in Oxford, Greenwood, Albany, Mason Township and Gilead.

They found evidence of a meth lab in a pickup truck near Flagship Cinemas on Route 26 in Oxford and one in the Gilead house, McCausland said. Meth labs often are small-scale operations in which toxic chemicals are mixed in a container such as a soda bottle.

Arrested were David Thompson, 52, of Gilead; Mico Thompson, 31, of Gilead; Rodney Levesque, 35, of Oxford; Scott Hart, 36, of Albany; Amanda Thompson, 28, of Albany; Joshua Spencer, 28, of Greenwood; Heidi Owens, 24, of Greenwood; and Joel Mills, 38, of Mason Township. All were charged with trafficking/manufacturing methamphetamine and conspiracy to traffic in methamphetamine.

McCausland said the eight are being held at the Oxford County Jail in Paris. Bail has been set at $100,000 bond or $75,000 cash for David Thompson and $75,000 bond or $50,000 cash for the other seven. Hart is also being held on a probation violation.

Similar investigations are being conducted and more arrests are expected, McCausland said.

David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:

dhench@pressherald.com

Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:

emurphy@pressherald.com