A Taco Bell Reportedly Doubled As a Meth Lab

A Taco Bell employee in Iowa was allegedly cooking up something even more sinister than smothered burritos.

After responding to a suspicious persons report at a Cedar Rapids Taco Bell early Tuesday morning, local authorities discovered the remnants of a meth lab inside the restaurant and took two men into custody, one of them a Taco Bell employee, according a report by KCRG. Neither had any reported affiliation with Los Pollos Hermanos.

So far, it’s unclear if meth was actually cooked inside of the restaurant, which was still closed Tuesday afternoon pending cleaning work and a health department inspection, the station reported. In the hours after the incident, investigators taped off the parking lot and wore hazardous materials gear to check out the meth lab equipment, which is probably a wise choice when handling said smothered burritos.

In a statement released to KCRG, Taco Bell said the worker has been fired and that the local franchisee might press "criminal charges." The company also denounced the employee's actions as "unacceptable," and emphasized that none of the alleged meth-making items were used in the restaurant's kitchen. There's no word on whether the men in custody faced charges as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the report.

The news comes just days after a Taco Bell employee in Kansas was fired for allegedly writing "PIG" on a police officer's taco wrappers. Check out the KCRG report below:

h/t Eater

Tony Merevick is Cities News Editor at Thrillist. Send news tips to news@thrillist.com and follow him on Twitter @tonymerevick.