Federal authorities on Thursday announced the results of a two-month undercover operation in Palm Beach County that they said led to dozens of arrests, the seizure of nearly 100 firearms and the recovery of large quantities of illegal drugs.
Dubbed “Operation Hurricane,” the joint effort by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the U.S. Department of Justice targeted violent offenders, armed convicted felons and drug traffickers through a series of undercover investigations.
Officials said 46 people have been charged in connection with the operation. While most suspects have been arrested, five remain at large.
“If there’s one thing this operation makes crystal clear, it’s that this department is not just going to be reactive to the crimes around us,” DOJ Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said. “We are not waiting for violence to happen before we act.”
Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement conducted more than 120 undercover operations and months of surveillance.
Authorities seized 94 firearms along with significant quantities of cocaine, crack cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin.
“In the last two months, law enforcement seized 94 firearms, and substantial quantities of narcotics,” McDonald said.
Officials also highlighted a major development that stemmed from the operation. According to investigators, one man arrested during the undercover investigation was later linked to a homicide in West Palm Beach that had occurred just days earlier.
Using the ATF’s national ballistic database, investigators matched a Glock handgun recovered during the operation to shell casings found at the murder scene.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones said the operation demonstrates the value of proactive policing.
“These agents, I can’t emphasize this enough, they are saving lives with this work,” Quiñones said. “This is what proactive law enforcement looks like.”
ATF Director Rob Cekada said the operation focused on identifying and targeting people believed to be driving violent crime rather than conducting broad enforcement efforts.
“Instead of going into neighborhoods randomly, hoping to find people responsible for violent crime, we work with our partners to zone in on those people responsible for driving violence and to remove those folks from those communities,” Cekada said.
Federal officials said the investigation is part of ongoing efforts to reduce violent crime by disrupting illegal firearm trafficking and drug distribution networks in South Florida.
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