(SBT24/7News) One person was arrested early Wednesday morning after a mobile meth lab arrest in Elkhart.

The Indiana State Police were called to assist Elkhart authorities after a car was stopped around midnight at the intersection of Indiana 19 and Indiana Avenue and a backpack meth lab was found in the vehicle.

Trooper Jason Faulstich, meth suppression officer for the ISP Bremen post, said the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department made the arrest after members of the Indiana Clandestine Lab Team confirmed the items and chemicals in the backpack were for making meth.

It was the third report in as many days of mobile "backpack" meth labs. Faulstich said another backpack was left at the intersection of County Road 17 north of County Road 120 on Elkhart's far east side Tuesday.

"It was left outside, as if someone was coming back for it," he said.

And early Monday, the meth team was investigating another incident after a police chase began near Syracuse and the vehicle occupants, who fled the scene, threw their backpack "lab" out of the window.

Faulstich said in the last two or three years, particularly in Marshall County, law enforcement officers have seen an increase in the backpack labs in cars.

"It's the mobility," he said. "Plus, they're trying to keep it low-key and do it in cars."

Because of changes in how meth is now being "cooked," he said, it's easier for people to keep all the items they need in a single backpack and process it on wheels.

"They're using what's called the new method," Faulstich said. Because the chemical reaction for creating meth is now streamlined, it can be kept on the road or simply carried across the shoulders.

But the chemical reaction for creating meth remains dangerous, he said.

"It's very volatile," Faulstich said. "It can self-detonate and it's a fire hazard."

And it's not a road hazard many people are thinking of when they're stopped next to another vehicle at a traffic light or they pull into a public parking space.

"It can create a fireball," Faulstich said. "It can blow out the windows."

No arrests have yet been made in the case involving the other backpack found in Elkhart, he said, and authorities have not identified the person arrested Wednesday.