Weapons Seizures

In what authorities called one of the largest weapons seizures in county history, nearly 200 semiautomatic rifles and 80,000 rounds of ammunition were seized by federal agents in Irvine and San Diego, culminating an undercover investigation of a weapons-smuggling ring, it was announced Wednesday. The two-week investigation by Operation Alliance, a task force composed of members from the U.S.

Security screeners at Los Angeles County's 48 court buildings last year confiscated 53,302 knives, 24,783 scissors, 21,014 razors, 8,208 pairs of handcuffs and 114 stun guns -- enough to equip a small army. Those figures form one of the more interesting -- and unsettling -- statistical categories in the latest Los Angeles County Superior Court annual report. The review found that the number of banned weapons seized jumped to 245,868 from 199,015 two years earlier.

A federal crackdown on the illegal sale of F-14 fighter jet parts to Iran led to the seizure of four privately owned military aircraft in San Bernardino County this week, after one jet owner surfaced in a sting operation to thwart the sale of an F-14 cockpit canopy, authorities said. As military technicians dismantled the fighters Wednesday at airports in Chino and Victorville, federal officials said the investigation was continuing and no criminal charges had yet been filed.

Colombia's Defense Ministry said Wednesday night that it had recovered uranium that officials have alleged leftist rebels might have acquired to make a "dirty bomb." In a statement, the ministry said informants last week brought military intelligence officers a chemical sample, which tests found to be "degraded uranium." On Wednesday night, officials were at the site a few miles south of Bogota to recover the source of the sample, a cache weighing up to 66 pounds.

Hundreds of federal agents and Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies fanned out over three states Friday to drop an investigative net over the Mongols motorcycle club, arresting at least 42 people in Southern California and seizing dozens of illegal guns, cocaine and stolen motorcycles, they said. The crackdown was the culmination of a perilous, 2 1/2-year investigation in which an undercover federal agent joined the club and rose into its executive ranks, officials of the U.S.

Firefighters responding to a house fire in a Norco neighborhood were greeted with a dangerous surprise: gunfire. Lots of it. Authorities on Thursday found a cache containing more than 1 million rounds of ammunition and 75 firearms, ranging from small handguns to assault rifles, throughout the burning home and in a shaft and tunnel under the garage. The firefighters realized the stockpile was inside when rounds started going off. No injuries were reported.

In an unprecedented blow against organized labor, the Mexican government Tuesday arrested the powerful leader of the national oil workers union in a military raid that officials said netted hundreds of automatic weapons. Joaquin Hernandez Galicia, known as La Quina, was detained at his Ciudad Madero home in the coastal state of Tamaulipas after a shoot-out between his bodyguards and federal police backed by the army. A federal agent was killed.

The half-brother of the man who went on a shooting rampage in a Stockton schoolyard last month has pleaded innocent in Stanislaus County Municipal Court to explosives charges, authorities said Thursday. Bail remained at $500,000 for Albert Edward Gulart Jr., 20, of Modesto, who faces a felony count of possessing a destructive device in a public place and misdemeanor counts of possessing illegal fireworks and dangerous fireworks.

Eleven reputed gang members were arrested and 16 firearms were confiscated Tuesday morning during a gang sweep that police described as the most extensive in the city's history. Authorities said they hope the raid will send a message to the 40 city gangs that police believe are largely responsible for the record number of homicides in Santa Ana this year.

Standing before an AK-47 carbine, four knives, a skull and two electric guitars seized from an alleged satanic cult, authorities Monday announced the arrest of four men suspected of defacing a local church. The alleged cult members--two 18-year-olds, a 19-year-old and a 31-year-old--idolized Charles Manson and "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez, and some were members of Ritual, a so-called "black metal" band, Glendale Police Sgt. Jim Lowrey said. "This is way past a childish prank.

A Boyle Heights day-care facility also housed a large cache of drugs, weapons and money, Los Angeles police said Wednesday. LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon said officers raided the duplex in the 800 block of Esperanza Street about 11 p.m. Tuesday and found 14 kilos of cocaine, 50 pounds of marijuana, a stash of firearms and $300,000 cash. "We found more in the house than we expected. Once inside we found the city permit for a day-care facility posted on the wall," said Vernon.

A federal crackdown on the illegal sale of F-14 fighter jet parts to Iran led to the seizure of four privately owned military aircraft in San Bernardino County this week, after one jet owner surfaced in a sting operation to thwart the sale of an F-14 cockpit canopy, authorities said. As military technicians dismantled the fighters Wednesday at airports in Chino and Victorville, federal officials said the investigation was continuing and no criminal charges had yet been filed.

Firefighters responding to a house fire in a Norco neighborhood were greeted with a dangerous surprise: gunfire. Lots of it. Authorities on Thursday found a cache containing more than 1 million rounds of ammunition and 75 firearms, ranging from small handguns to assault rifles, throughout the burning home and in a shaft and tunnel under the garage. The firefighters realized the stockpile was inside when rounds started going off. No injuries were reported.

Robert Ferro, the Upland man arrested last month for allegedly possessing more than 1,500 guns and explosive devices inside his home, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a five-count federal indictment of illegally storing weapons. Ferro, 61, is a Cuban exile who has said he stashed the weapons to help a paramilitary group overthrow President Fidel Castro. A U.S. District judge scheduled Ferro's trial for July 11 in Riverside.

A Cuban exile who said he stashed nearly 1,400 machine guns, grenades and rifles in his Upland home to help a paramilitary group overthrow President Fidel Castro was indicted this week on federal weapons charges, officials announced Friday. Robert Ferro, 61, faces five felony counts for allegedly storing the weapons, some of which were unregistered. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said additional charges could be filed.

A Cuban exile arrested on suspicion of stashing more than 1,000 guns in his Upland home told federal authorities that the weapons were for a quasi-military group bent on overthrowing President Fidel Castro, but police officials said that may be a cover story for a black-market gun ring.

A Boyle Heights day-care facility also housed a large cache of drugs, weapons and money, Los Angeles police said Wednesday. LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon said officers raided the duplex in the 800 block of Esperanza Street about 11 p.m. Tuesday and found 14 kilos of cocaine, 50 pounds of marijuana, a stash of firearms and $300,000 cash. "We found more in the house than we expected. Once inside we found the city permit for a day-care facility posted on the wall," said Vernon.

Police conducted the most extensive gang sweep in the city's history, authorities said Monday, arresting 51 people and confiscating eight handguns. "We wanted to send a message to the gang members that, at least as far as Garden Grove is concerned, if you're going to be a gang member, then we're going to use zero tolerance. We're trying to prevent any violence, and gang members create violence," said Sgt. Bruce J. Prince, head of the city's gang unit.

Holding a TEC-9 handgun, county Supervisor Mike Antonovich announced Friday an expansion of a Probation Department program to disarm gang members. Over the next six months, probation officers will target Palmdale, Lancaster, Chatsworth and Altadena, searching probationers suspected of illegally possessing weapons.

It was a photo that foiled a yearlong bid Wednesday to craft a final Protestant-Catholic power-sharing accord for Northern Ireland, although British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, held out hope that public pressure might yet push the two sides to a settlement.