BATH — Discovery of a suspected methamphetamine lab Wednesday afternoon led to the arrest of a Dummer Street resident.

Mark Corson, 35, was arrested on a charge of aggravated trafficking of a Schedule W drug, according to Police Chief Mike Field, after agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and other agencies searched Corson’s 24 Dummer St. apartment.

The charge was aggravated because the lab was within 1,000 feet of the Dike-Newell Elementary School, Field said.

Corson was taken to Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset and held on $2,000 cash bail.

Agents arrived at the north Bath building shortly before noon and began searching the apartment, where they ultimately found evidence that meth, an addictive drug, had been manufactured, according to spokesman Steve McCausland of the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Field said the investigation began with his department’s drug detective, David Beaugreard, who is a resident agent for MDEA.

“My understanding is that from the beginning, they’ve been working together,” Field said.

The MDEA agents wore protective gear during the search, since the meth “cooking” process can be explosive, McCausland reported. Nearby apartments were evacuated while the search took place.

Field said a meth lab was last discovered in the south end of the city, on Shaw Street, a few years ago; that lab was unrelated to the one being searched Wednesday.

McCausland said this is the fourth suspected meth lab found in Maine this year. He said MDEA uncovered 13 such operations last year.

Alex Lear can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 113 or alear@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @learics.

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Maine drug enforcement agents searched a suspected methamphetamine lab in Bath Wednesday afternoon.