The Los Angeles Police Department and federal agents are working on a joint operation targeting “illegal narcotics activity” in MarArthur Park, a hotspot for fentanyl sales and use, on Thursday afternoon, authorities said.
A heavy police presence and a BearCat military vehicle could be seen near the park on 7th Street, while a message blasted over a loudspeaker warning people that there was an ongoing narcotics investigation and those who remained in the area might be subject to detention, search and possible arrest.
At least six people had been arrested on suspicion of illegal narcotics use or sale by 3:30 p.m., according to law enforcement sources familiar with the operation but not authorized to speak publicly.
LAPD Deputy Chief German Hurtado, who oversees the Central Bureau, said it was a joint operation with the Drug Enforcement Administration “to clean up the park” and make arrests of those peddling drugs and those under the influence of narcotics.
The operation is solely focused on drug-related criminal activity and is not connected to immigration enforcement, the LAPD said in a statement on X.
MacArthur Park is a working-class area with a large immigrant community just west of downtown Los Angeles. The historic neighborhood has long been affected by crime and gang activity and, in recent years, has become an epicenter of the city’s overdose epidemic, with the area surrounding the park described by federal authorities as an “open-air drug market.”
Thursday’s sweep follows a similar operation in May, when federal agents and local authorities arrested 18 people, including two believed to be the main sources of fentanyl and methamphetamine in the park, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
At the time, First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli warned that it was “not a one-and-done operation.”
“MacArthur Park should be for families, it should be for residents of Los Angeles — not for drug dealers and gangsters,” Essayli said at a news conference following the initial May raid. “We are here and we are not leaving.”
The neighborhood, described as the heart of immigrant Los Angeles, also has been the target of raids by federal immigration agents seeking to arrest residents without documentation.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
