The Department of Homeland Security is calling this the largest ecstasy bust they've had in Houston. They discovered tens of thousands of ecstasy pills being made and manufactured inside a home in the 17000 block of Pattiglen Drive.
And federal agents, we're told, just stumbled upon it. They went out there Wednesday afternoon to execute a search warrant for drugs, not knowing they would find a huge operation.
The suspect they were looking for jumped out a second-floor window, but he didn't get far. Inside, federal agents found pill presses, chemicals and thousands upon thousands of ecstasy pills ready to be sold.
"The house is just ladened with chemicals, pre cursers and binding agents to make the pills," said Gregory Palmore with the Department of Homeland Security. "All the walls are covered with powder and residue from making ecstasy."
Ecstasy is a party drug, the drug of choice within the rave culture, clubs and house parties. It's so bad in there, we're told there is drug dust everywhere -- on the floor, walls, TVs, tables.
That has made it challenging for agents to do their job.
"Right now, there's just so much drugs throughout the house that it's probably going to take us some time to actually get a dollar estimate for you," Palmore said.
The owner of the home tells Eyewitness News she's been renting the home to the 30-year-old suspect and had no idea what was going on inside the home. In fact, she thought she was being pranked when we reached out to her because she hadn't yet watched the news or been contacted by any authorities.
Some neighbors say there stunned, and didn't know this drug house even existed.
"I don't know. A lot of people are going to live better, safer for sure," neighbor Dwayne Nixon said. "People are dying from it, ruining people's lives."
The suspect's name has not been released. Federal agents say he may just be some small part of this ecstasy-making operation.
And there may be more drugs inside, along with computers and other item, that can give investigators more insight into this operation.
Find Foti on Facebook at ReporterFotiKallergis or on Twitter at @FotiKallergis
Take ABC13 with you!
Download our free apps for iPhone, iPad and Android devices
