TEXAS HOLD 'EM
351 busted in Lone Star State gang op
More than 350 people were arrested and $4.36 million seized at the end of a nearly six-month operation aimed at apprehending alleged gang members and other violent offenders in Texas, federal officials announced Sunday.
The investigation, named Operation Triple Beam, produced 351 arrests, including 92 alleged gang members. It also resulted in the confiscation of 86 guns, $4,360,968 and 32 kilos of illicit drugs, according to the US Marshals Service.
The probe, headed by the Gulf Coast Violent Offender Task Force in cooperation with several federal and state agencies, stretched from April 7 to Sept. 30.
The investigation zeroed in on street and prison gangs that operate in Nueces, Aransas and San Patricio counties in the Lone Star State, the service revealed.
“As violent crime and gang violence continue to rise and plague our cities and counties, those of us in the law-enforcement community must be ready and willing to engage,” Marshal for the Southern District of Texas T. Michael O’Connor said.
“The goal of Operation Triple Beam is to foster safer communities by providing immediate relief from gang-related violence by investigating and arresting fugitive gang members and the criminal organizations responsible for committing violent crimes.
“I am extremely proud of all our law-enforcement partners who have worked so diligently these past several months,” said O’Connor.
The Corpus Christi Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the US Attorney’s Office and other entities were involved in the operation, authorities said.