A weekend crackdown on border-related crimes in San Diego County resulted in 246 arrests, including 67 suspected gang members and associates, the Sheriff's Department announced on Monday.
About 700 local law enforcement officers from various agencies, including sheriff's deputies and San Diego police, participated in Operation Allied Shield III, which targeted gangs with ties to drug smuggling, human trafficking and other border-related crimes.
Most were arrested on parole and probation violations, warrants, driving under the influence and possession of narcotics.
Sheriff Bill Gore said the focus of the operation, the third since April last year, was local crimes that have a cross-border relation.
"It's the residential burglaries, robberies and car thefts associated with smuggling corridors, whether human or drug smuggling corridors, that come through our neighborhoods and precincts," Gore said.
Gore said several of the arrested were criminal immigrants who were turned over to federal authorities who are conducting follow up work.
Some of the arrested likely had ties to drug cartels in Mexico but officials offered few specifics.
"We know that the Mexican cartels rely on gang members in the United States not only to transport some of their drug activity but also to act as enforcers for their operations in this country," Gore said.
Officers seized drugs with a street value of $70,000 and $41,000 in cash in addition to weapons and vehicles. Officers also came across other criminal activity, which explains the high number of arrests.
The sweep, which began 5 p.m. Friday and ended at 2 a.m. Sunday, targeted areas in the central, southern and eastern parts of the county.
Gore credited a $28.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that the county received in 2008 for making the multi-agency effort possible and helping to keep crime down throughout the county.
Gore said the coordinated local law enforcement effort was an example of what is being done to keep drug-related violence in Mexico from spilling into San Diego County.
"By and large that violence is staying in Mexico (due to) a lot of the hard work of U.S. law enforcement, both federal, state and local on this side of the border," Gore said.
Still, he added, just "because crime is down all over the San Diego County I don't think we should look at that as a decrease in the threat that is still posed from Mexico. The threat is still there."
Rodney Scott, acting deputy chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector, said agents were involved in the operation but stressed that the weekend crackdown was not immigration related.
"There was no massive movement of green and white vehicles through Hispanic neighborhoods. This was very targeted against known criminals who've committed crimes in the United States and potentially in Mexico."
leonel.sanchez@sandiegored.com
