It was a busy morning for law enforcement on Thursday as several federal agents conducted a major drug bust both in Lubbock and in the county, one at the Stratford Place Apartments 4901 4th Street and the other at 154th and Frankford Avenue. 

The drug at hand: fentanyl, which is fifty times more potent than heroin. Officials report that all it takes is a doze the size of three  grains of sand to be lethal. 

Drug Enforcement Administration spokesperson, Russell Baer, says that in his 26 years of working with the DEA, Thursday’s big bust was a first of sorts for him. 

“I’ve seen a lot of things throughout my career, nothing like this,” said Baer. “These drugs cannot be underestimated, they represent a huge public health, threat.”

Sidney Caleb Lanier, 36, was arrested at his home on 154th Street, while both Jessica Christine Holl, 28, and Jamie Marie Robertson, 32, were arrested at their apartment on 4th street. 

DEA agent, Calvin Bond, says they’ve been looking into this particular case for more than three years and that the drugs came from China, and were intercepted in San Francisco by Homeland Security, a single gram costing as much as $300.  

Residents in both areas say when they were getting ready for work Thursday morning, the scene of their neighborhoods being taken over by men and women in hazmat suits was both interesting and unsettling. Neighbors say they were shocked to hear their neighbors were arrested.
 
“We had two small kids inside, being this close to home, it’s pretty eye opening as to who we had as neighbors with what to expect and what not to expect,” said Mariah Duesterhaus who lives near the apartment that was raided. She was getting ready to take her son to the doctor with her husband, Anthony.
 
“They [Holl and Robertson] were extremely friendly and would always say ‘hi’ if they saw us. If we had the kids with us they would say ‘hi’ to the kids.” 
 
Brandon Milton, who lives next door to the women says the couple pretty much kept to themselves and that he was surprised to learn that the substance they were dealing was so dangerous. 
 
“I never would have thought that something like this being this close,” said Milton. “I guess you really got to know your neighbors!”
 
The DEA reports that this is the first time there has had to be a multi-agency effort for a fentanyl investigation here in Lubbock.