Traffic Stop Leads To Huge Drug Bust, 'Disturbing Discovery' In Bexar Co.

The Bexar County Sheriff's Office made a "disturbing discovery" on Thursday night when deputies found hundred of pounds of drugs in a northeastern home.

Undercover deputies working with federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents pulled over Jose Armando Villasana Hernandez, 39, near U.S. 281 and Jones-Maltsberger Road for a traffic violation. Inside the vehicle, deputies found Hernandez's two young children and 66-pounds of meth, MySA reported.

An investigation into Hernandez led deputies to the 5400 block of Lake Grove, where they found an alleged meth lab within a residential neighborhood.

"This is a nice neighborhood. There are likely people out walking in the morning or evening or kids playing in the street, all the while not knowing that there is a large drug house sitting right here," Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters on Thursday night.

Inside the house, Salazar said authorities found 172 pounds of meth with a street value of $3.7 million, 8.9 pounds of heroin worth $400,000, and 300 pounds of liquid meth. They also found 10 5-gallon buckets, propane tanks, multiple outdoor burners, and gallons of acetone.

Salazar believes the house was used to process and repackage drugs that were distributed across the country. He also said that it didn't look like anyone lived in the house.

"It is rare that we see an operation like this in a well-populated neighborhood like we are in. But what's terrifying is that there are enough chemicals in here that it could have blown the roof right off of this house and several of the surrounding homes if it had gone badly," the sheriff said.

Authorities are now investigating into who owns the home and those involved in the drug operation. Hernandez was arrested on federal drug charges.

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