LENOX TOWNSHIP -- State police in Susquehanna County are investigating the discovery of what they believe to be a mobile meth lab.
Troopers tell Newswatch 16 it started around 9 p.m. Sunday night in the parking lot of a gas station and mini mart along Route 374, just off Interstate 81.
Three people were taken into custody, and a fourth was taken to a hospital after a backpack filled with materials for making methamphetamine turned up in a mini-mart parking lot near Clifford.
Police and a hazmat crew were called to the gas station mini-mart, along Route 374, in Lenox Township, just after 9 p.m. Sunday.
According to authorities, four men were apparently trying to get rid of something outside the Convenient Food Mart near Lenoxville. Police were called to the area to search a white Mazda. Inside the vehicle, authorities said they found what appeared to be meth-making materials.
Ray Gerichten was on duty inside and he tells Newswatch 16 it all started with a plea for help.
"Next thing I know, there's a lady screaming out there at the pump. She's screaming, 'help me' or something like that, so I opened the door and that's what she was saying," Gerichten recalled.
Gerichten says police came, looked at the car the woman and three others arrived in. They found a backpack with meth making materials inside, and the handcuffs went on.
"Got that guy's backpack, turns out there cooking meth in there, I say what!"
The gas station and mini-mart is just off Interstate 81 with a lot of traffic coming through there.
Lenny Oliveri of Pittston drives a truck and stops there occasionally. He's disappointed a drug manufacturing operation was found in this area.
"This is country, and people work hard around here. That's all I can say," said Oliveri.
Brian McDonald is also a frequent customer. He lives just down the road in Clifford. He's Disappointed with what police found here last night.
"We heard of it going on, different areas of northeastern Pennsylvania, but I don't really expect to be here."
And as for Ray Gerichten, the guy who was here when it all started, he says he's seen a lot of strange things working late at night and early in the morning but this is his first meth bust.
The store in Lenox Township remained open for business after the alleged mobile meth lab discovery in Susquehanna County.
