SAN JOSE -- Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies conducted a pre-dawn raid Thursday on an apartment complex authorities described as 'the Costco of meth' in San Jose's unincorporated Burbank neighborhood.

"They're the Costco of meth here in the Burbank area," said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Ray Mendoza in describing the area of the raid.

Five people were arrested and a "useable" amount of methamphetamine was seized during the raid, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office reported.

The raid, involving approximately 20 sheriff's deputies and other law enforcement personnel, took place at approximately 6 a.m. in a complex of dilapidated duplexes at 329 S. Willard Avenue in unincorporated San Jose.

One of the people arrested was a man, with multiple outstanding arrest warrants, allegedly looking to buy drugs. He parked on Willard Avenue and walked down the complex's driveway despite the visible presence of deputies and patrol cars at the address, according to sheriff's Sgt. Ed Wise.

"That goes to show this place was a real drug house," Wise said.

The identities of the arrested suspects were not immediately available for release, according to Wise.

Authorities believe that methamphetamine manufactured by gangs in Mexico and transported to the Bay Area by illegal immigrants is being sold in the complex.

"It's cheap. It's easy to manufacture. It's an epidemic," according to Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, who was present early Thursday at the raid site.

Methamphetamine was not only sold to individual users at the Willard Avenue complex but also in effect wholesale to teenage dealers on bicycles who would then resell it in other areas, Mendoza said.