Officials in Amherst uncovered an active meth lab in a storm sewer near a Wal-Mart parking lot on Monday, though no suspects have been identified in connection to its operation.

The area has since been cordoned off as Amherst and Buffalo area firefighters in hazmat suits work to clean up the scene and secure the lab, said to reach some 12 feet underground by a main thoroughfare in the town.

“Is it out of the ordinary for Amherst? Has it happened here before? Yes,” said Detective Captain Scott Chamberlin of Amherst. “It happens all over the country, all over the state.”

The sheer extent of the lab, however, has left others a little more shocked.

“I was completely astounded,” said Amherst Highway Superintendent Patrick G. Lucey. “It’s like, are you kidding me? It’s just not something you run across. I’m sure it can happen. Anywhere at any time somewhere where there’s the opportunity and the motive, it can happen. But this was definitely something new.”

Police said they will use video surveillance tapes of the Wal-Mart parking lot to pinpoint any people coming or going from the underground drug lair.

There has been a reported increase in the number of crude methamphetamine labs in recent years that use basic household goods such as cold medicine, lithium batteries, drain cleaner, and salt to concoct the highly addictive substance. Meth users have an increased risk of heart problems, including heart disease, which was the number one killer of both men and women in 2013.

Moreover, the manufacturers of the meth expose themselves to extremely hazardous conditions, perhaps especially so when cooking in an underground storm sewer.

“It could have been very dangerous. It was very dangerous,” said superintendent Lucey. “Forget cooking and making their lab, just the gases themselves and the environment that they were working in was a very dangerous situation. Certainly, they weren’t thinking.”