Crime sweep in OKC leads to 50 charged for weapons, drug crimes

A multi-agency crime sweep in Oklahoma City over two months recently led to dozens of arrests and the seizure of 193 firearms, authorities announced Tuesday.

Called “Operation Sonic Boom,” the joint effort conducted by local, state and federal law enforcement also resulted in the configuration of 83 machine gun conversion devices, two 3D printers used to make the devices and more than 63 kilograms of illegal drugs with a street value of more than $750,000.

In state or federal court, 50 people face charges ranging from illegal firearms trafficking and the unlawful possession and transfer of machine guns to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine.

“A quick warning to bad guys,” said Jeff Boshek, special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives. “Hey, you might be out there in the street dealing a little drugs, trying to make a little cash, flipping guns, buying guns for people that shouldn’t have them. That man or woman that you’re selling to just might be an ATF, DEA, FBI undercover.”

Boshek was joined Tuesday by other law enforcement leaders, as well as prosecutors, who gathered downtown for a news conference announcing the operation.

Ron Bacy, the Oklahoma City police chief, said the amount of criminal charges, as well as the drug and weapons seizures, don’t necessarily tell the whole story.

“I say those are truly amazing stats,” Bacy said. “The stats that you won’t read are just as important, because we can’t quantify the lives that were saved by this operation. The family that doesn’t have to bury a child. The friends and the networks that don’t have to live with the trauma and impact of violent crime. “Communities that won’t have the fear of the damage that these weapons could have caused in our community.”

3D-printed conversion devices used to allow guns to fire dozens of rounds in seconds

The operation was part of a larger effort to remove machine gun conversion devices from the streets.

Also known as “Glock switches,” the small devices are used to convert semiautomatic handguns, like the popular Glock, into weapons that can fire dozens of rounds in seconds. The devices can be made with a 3D printer in about 20 minutes.

More: 3D printers turn regular guns into machine guns. Feds are cracking down.

In November, Robert J. Troester, US attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, stepped up enforcement against the use of firearm conversion devices.

“We’ve trained nearly 900 law enforcement officers on what to look for,” Troester said Tuesday. “Since that time, we’ve charged 39 individuals and recovered 186 machine gun conversion devices. Let that soak in just a little bit. “In the last year, 186 devices, which can be used as machine guns, have been taken off our streets.”

While not yet illegal in Oklahoma, the possession, manufacturing and sale of machine gun conversion devices violates federal law. The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“I don’t create the laws,” said Vicki Behenna, district attorney for Oklahoma County. “I follow the laws. And if the representatives and the senators in the state of Oklahoma found that it was necessary to enact a state law, we will darn sure enforce it.”

Operation Sonic Boom was funded by the Texoma High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which is made up of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in north Texas and Oklahoma.

Other agencies involved in Operation Sonic Boom were the US Marshals Service, the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotic and Dangerous Drugs Control.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Crime sweep in OKC leads to dozens of recovered machine gun devices