OAKLAND–Federal and local law enforcement officials simultaneously raided 26 locations in Oakland early Wednesday, arresting 30 people and confiscating an estimated $1 million in drugs.
The raids were the result of a two-year joint operation involving the Oakland Police and the FBI, IRS, DEA and San Francisco Police, culminating in the indictment of numerous members of a local heroin ring.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, officials said two violent gangs involved in heroin trafficking had been warring, and that two persons of interest were murdered over the course of the investigation.
“Disturbing” numbers of firearms were discovered during the raids, according to Deputy Police Chief Dave Kozicki. One weapons cache in East Oakland amounted to 13 firearms, including assault rifles, he said.
During the Wednesday raids, police seized two and a half pounds of heroin, two pounds of marijuana and smaller amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine. The two-year operation, which included undercover work, led to ten previous arrests throughout the Bay Area.
Police officials would not identify the gangs involved, stating only that their members were primarily Hispanic and based in East Oakland.
“We don’t want to name them, because we feel that further legitimizes them in their communities,” said Oakland public information officer Roland Holmgren. However, names of seventeen arrestees indicted by the grand jury on Wednesday have been released. Many went by nicknames, like “Funky,” “Patron” or “Chaparro.”
According to police officials, the alleged traffickers smuggled tar heroin from Mexico to Central California, where the organization was run. From there it went to Oakland, they said, where the majority of distribution cells were located. The ring could distribute from 50 to 100 pounds of heroin each month, Holmgren said. Officials recovered only about nine pounds over the course of two years.
The raids Wednesday morning were conducted primarily in Oakland but also in San Francisco, San Leandro, Newark, Hayward, Pittsburg, Tracy, Vallejo and Delhi.
“It’s not just one city by itself, just like it’s not one agency [by itself],” said San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong. She expressed hope that the arrests would lead to decreased violence, not just in Oakland, but all over the Bay Area.
Oakland Police Chief Wayne G. Tucker boasted that the raids went off without a hitch.
“We’ve had no injuries, no discharges of firearms, no car chases, no car crashes,” Tucker said.
Six people are still wanted in connection with the case.