public safety

Sweep kicks off police operation

Rounding up members of the 16 known gangs operating in the communities of El Chorrillo and Santa Ana was the main objective of a police sweep yesterday as part of the “Operación País Seguro” headed by Police Chief Francisco Troya.

Some 132 people, only one of them a gang member, were arrested in the operation, which yielded an unspecified sum of drug money, three illegal firearms and more than 50 rounds of ammunition, according to a judicial source.

Among the gangs targeted in the operation were the El Pentágono, Bagdad, Renta Quince and los Bebés, considered some of the most dangerous criminal groups the capital.

Police also dismantled three drug labs and fronts this weekend in the Villa Cecilia, La Florida and La Riviera neighborhoods of Pedregal.