In a no-nonsense crackdown on gang activity, Atlanta and DeKalb County law enforcement agencies have delivered a one-two punch against alleged gang members, rounding up 37 individuals in two separate busts. According to FOX 5 Atlanta, ‘Operation Spring Forward’ led to the arrest of 17 people on April 4 with Atlanta police retrieving 16 firearms and a cache of illegal narcotics during a sweep in the city. Almost simultaneously, detailed in a report by 11Alive, 20 more were apprehended in DeKalb County as part of a multi-gang investigation that unearthed an arsenal of 20 firearms, some classified as machine guns, and significant quantities of drugs at a house reportedly used as both a drug distribution hub and a base for violent crimes.
One particular firearm found in Atlanta, concealed within the engine compartment of a vehicle, had been reported stolen last year, officers say. Four Glocks were altered with internal switches to reportedly convert them into automatic weapons — a modification that comes with severe legal prohibitions. While specifics of the arrested parties remain under wraps, officials have disclosed that five of the Atlanta detainees are facing gang charges. Reflecting the shadowy nature of gang alliances and the reach of their operations, the bust in DeKalb County extended its implications to Texas, where a robbery victim's account catalyzed the investigation that would later unveil the gang's Georgia nexus.
Over in DeKalb County, the scale of criminal enterprise was starkly evident. The residence in Lithonia, as told by 11Alive, disgorged 60 lbs of mushrooms, 70g of mushroom gummies, over 200g of marijuana gummies, several pounds of marijuana, and varied quantities of promethazine, Xanax, and oxycodone pills. Not only were the drugs and guns seized, but the operation also intersected with a murder investigation. Four of those arrested in DeKalb were wanted in connection with the killing of 27-year-old Nicholas Grierson, who was shot hours before on April 5.
All 20 DeKalb County defendants hail from Georgia, with charges spanning armed robbery to drug trafficking, and their ages pointing to a heartbreaking reality — most of them trapped in the snare of gang life well before they reached 25. As investigators continue to unravel this tangled web of criminality under the auspices of a multi-agency task force, involving the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Gang Task Force, the Cedar Park Police Department, and others, more charges loom on the horizon for the accused. Atlanta's streets and, by extension, the vaporizer store in Texas were scenes of crimes that now seem intertwined by the invisible threads of gang allegiance and avarice that know no state lines.
