San Diego
A San Diego police task force arrested 19 people, most of them Cuban immigrants, Friday evening at a Southeast San Diego motel that authorities consider a clearinghouse for illegal drug sales.
The raid on the Ebony Inn Motel and Apartments, 32nd Avenue and F Street, was part of a continuing crackdown on drug- and gang-related crime in Southeast San Diego and Logan Heights that has netted more than 120 arrests since late November.
Though the people arrested were not gang members, police believe that gang members known to sell drugs near 32nd Avenue and K Street typically have bought their goods at the motel, said Lt. Doug Price, chief of the task force.
Police have received frequent reports of disturbances and of shots being fired at the motel, he said.
The motel manager was unable to produce a required register of guests, so police were unable to determine Friday if the people arrested were residents of the inn, Price said.
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