Winona authorities said five people were arrested in a drug bust in Minnesota City that started Wednesday evening and ended early Thursday.
                
Winona County Chief Deputy Ron Ganrude said three of the suspects were arrested after authorities stopped a vehicle along Highway 61 in Goodview which had left the Sundown Motel about 11:15 p.m.  The other two were cited after authorities used the Sheriff's Department Emergency Response Team to serve a no-knock search warrant on a room at the motel about 4:00 a.m. Thursday.
                 
Authorities had the motel under surveillance after receiving a tip earlier in the day.  All five were cited with a felony count of fifth degree possession of narcotics.

Cited with the felony charges were:  26 year old Ashley Gore, 28 year old Roy Gore,  24 year old Tyler Brown and 19 year old Susan Haxton, all of Minnesota City.  Also cited was 21 year old Melonie Starks of Winona.  All five were held in custody.

Ganrude said authorities used the no-knock entry to the motel room because they had a tip one of the suspects may have had a gun in the room. Narcotics and drug paraphernalia were found in both the vehicle and the room along with a synthetic controlled substance.  Some of the suspects were also known to have been wanted on unrelated warrants before the bust took place.

Assisting in the investigation were the Southeastern Minnesota Narcotics and Gang Strike Force and Winona County deputies.