Several Suspects Arrested in West Oakland Raid

By Bay City News Service

Several suspects were arrested and drugs and illegal weapons were seized in a raid at a residence near the Acorn housing project in West Oakland early today (Friday), Oakland police said.

Police said 30 Oakland officers and 40 FBI agents worked together to serve multiple search warrants in response to a recent spike in violent crime in a small area of West Oakland.

The police action apparently was a follow-up to a massive raid last week in which about 300 officers from Oakland, the FBI and several other law enforcement agencies targeted the Acorn gang, which operates out of the Acorn housing project. However, Oakland police weren't available for comment today beyond a written statement.

The operation in the late night hours of April 24 and the early morning hours of April 25 resulted in the arrest of five suspects on gun and drug charges, the seizure of four firearms and a large amount of narcotics.

Lt. Tony Jones said last week that police had hoped to arrest more suspects and promised that "more arrests are coming."

Oakland police said in a statement that the people arrested in today's are "key persons responsible for violent criminal activity," including a recent spike in robberies and shootings.

They said illegal assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines were seized as well as raw tar heroin, cut heroin, and heroin packaged for sale with a street value of about $30,000 to $50,000. In addition, $1,600 in cash was seized.

Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said in a statement, "This is part of an ongoing effort to impact violent crime in our community. We want the community to know that we appreciate their help, and that we will continue our efforts to make Oakland safe."

Jordan said his department's collaborative relationship with the FBI, which is focused on curtailing violent crime, "is showing powerful results" and will continue.

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