Federal authorities arrest 18 people in Los Angeles park in drug crackdown

Federal authorities arrested 18 people in Los Angeles in a crackdown on drugs in MacArthur Park, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday. The DoJ said it was targeting an “open-air drug market” in the park near downtown, which has long struggled with fentanyl use and overdoses and has at times had large encampments of unhoused people. A total of 25 people have been charged in federal court with possession with the intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance, according to the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Seven of those defendants have not been arrested and are considered fugitives, the DoJ said. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been working with the Los Angeles police department and LA sheriff’s department since March on an investigation into the trafficking of controlled substances around MacArthur Park “for the purpose of identifying distributors, gathering evidence, and charging distributors”, according to a complaint in federal court. Authorities conducted surveillance operations, and undercover officers and confidential informants also made drug purchases, the complaint said. The complaint alleges that two defendants, who are a couple, “serve as the, if not one of the main sources of supply of fentanyl powder and methamphetamine” in the area and were working on behalf of the 18th Street gang, an LA group. …