OAKLAND — Federal and law enforcement officials targeting a violent Mexican heroin drug ring raided numerous locations in Oakland and elsewhere in Northern California on Wednesday, arresting 30 people and confiscating drugs, guns and cash.
More than 600 law officers served 32 state and federal search warrants in the East Bay during coordinated 6 a.m. raids as part of "Operation Piece Out." The arrests were made by Oakland police officers, Alameda County sheriff's deputies and agents with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.
The arrests culminated a two-year investigation that began when San Francisco police received tips about a heroin ring based in Mexico with distribution cells in Oakland and elsewhere in the Bay Area, said Javier Pena, agent in charge of the DEA in San Francisco.
During the course of the investigation, two people being targeted by police were killed in homicides, said Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker. Other suspects were involved in shootings and investigators uncovered and thwarted a plot that could have resulted in another killing, said Oakland Deputy Police Chief Dave Kozicki, who declined to elaborate.
The ring had the capacity to distribute between to 50 and 100 pounds of tar heroin a month, police said.
"They were violent, moving lots and lots of heroin," Pena said. "Today is a good day."
U.S. Attorney Scott Schools agreed, saying the suspects wreaked havoc and "created disorder for their own purposes." Six other suspects are being sought, Schools said.
Of the suspects targeted in the case, 23 were indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on Oct. 11 on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of heroin.
During the raids Wednesday, 22 guns were seized, five of which were assault weapons, Kozicki said. The majority of the weapons were found in an East Oakland location that served as a stronghold for the drug ring, Kozicki said.
Officials seized more than 9 pounds of heroin, an ounce of methamphetamine, 2 pounds of marijuana and 2 ounces of cocaine, Kozicki said.
Law enforcement officers also recovered $12,000 in cash and seized two cars and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
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