The Region - News from June 16, 1986

A total of 842 people were arrested in a three-day, citywide “street sweep” of hard drug sellers and users. Lt. William Costleigh of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Bureau Narcotics Division said the sweep--a series of raids that involved nearly 300 officers, many of them on loan from police units not usually involved in drug enforcement--began Thursday and ended late Saturday. He said the operation required 10 weeks of planning and was similar to another three-day sweep that netted 780 suspects last November. Most of the latest arrests were for possessing or selling heroin, he said, but arrests were also made for offenses involving cocaine, marijuana and PCP.