ST. LOUIS (AP) — A three-month-long crackdown in the St. Louis area has resulted in the arrest of 162 fugitives, including murder suspects, gang members and others with violent criminal pasts.
Results of the St. Louis-area effort were announced Thursday. It was part of the U.S. Department of Justice ’s “Operation Triple Beam” that used task forces of local, state and federal law enforcement to target violent fugitives nationwide.
U.S. Marshal John Jordan says 16 of the St. Louis-area arrests were connected to homicides. Sixty-nine suspected gang members were arrested, 40 firearms were seized and nearly 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of illegal drugs were confiscated.
St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden says the arrests “definitely have an impact on violent crime in St. Louis,” a city with one of the nation’s highest murder rates.
