LA Skid Row fentanyl raid
🇺🇸 LA's Skid Row is getting hit with a major drug crackdown. The FBI, DEA, ATF and LAPD are going after fentanyl and other drug dealers, searching dozens of locations, making arrests and seizing cash, guns and drugs. There are even reports of some dealers waiting until people get their government benefit checks before selling to them. Skid Row has struggled with homelessness and open drug dealing for years, with much of the activity happening right on the sidewalks. Now hundreds of officers are trying to break up the networks behind it. Writer: Daniyal
النص (en)
Well, we're told this is part of a four-month undercover operation targeting drug dealers on Skid Row. Look right now, we'll show you people being arrested here. This is an infamous site for not only drug use, but homelessness as well. And that gentleman you just saw being walked away, we actually saw large wads of cash being pulled from his pocket. You could see some of it being processed here on scene. I asked the FBI what that means, seeing these huge wads of cash. They said it probably means they're in the right location. So federal agents, including the FBI, DEA, U.S. Attorney's Office, and LAPD, hundreds of agents around us right now, people being arrested on site. And, of course, also lots of dogs and animals. You can see these caged dogs in the distance. That's also become a very disturbing and hot topic here on Skid Row. I want to bring in right now Kenny Cooper. He's the special agent in charge of the ATF here in Los Angeles. Kenny, what does it mean when you see drugs, wads of cash? I just saw a handgun being removed from a tent right near us. Yeah, it's hard to believe this is happening in America. This feels like a third world country right now. So that the expertise that we here to provide How are these violent gang offenders with multi-convictions, felony convictions, how are they obtaining their firearms to identify who's conducting the shootings to protect their drug trafficking, the rival gang shooting, witnesses being shot in the crossfire. So to identify those trigger much. So this all began before sunrise around five o'clock this morning. We were actually embedded with federal agents as they made, they detained people at what's being described as a drug house or a stash house as well. There are 28 people expected to be arrested as part of this county wide bus here today. We're told at this hour, 14 out of 28 suspects are in custody, 44 search warrants throughout the city. So this, we're told, is targeting people who sell fentanyl and meths to violent drug users here on the street. And federal agents I've been talking to say they believe that these drug dealers are actually targeting people who get federal funds here. So they come down here specifically on the day that people get their government check. Back to you guys.
