158 Held on Drug Charges
Los Angeles police seized 140 pounds of cocaine and arrested 148 people, many of them gang members, in a three-day crackdown on drug-trafficking “hot spots” throughout the city, officials said Friday.
A separate investigation led police to a home in the exclusive community of Palos Verdes Estates and the arrests Thursday evening of 10 suspected drug traffickers and the seizure of 485 pounds of cocaine, according to Torrance police.
The Los Angeles undercover operation included a sweep through gang turf just west of downtown and the arrest of a suspected mid-level supplier of rock cocaine to South-Central Los Angeles gangs, a spokesman said.
In addition, police made arrests aimed at curbing “blatant and conspicuous” street sales of narcotics in South Los Angeles residential neighborhoods, and undercover officers purchased drugs throughout the city, resulting in 85 of the arrests.
Nearly 50 of those arrested over the three-day period were identified by police as gang members. Half a dozen guns were confiscated.
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