cousinkix1953
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Police seize guns, drugs, and scanner in East Palo Alto Raid
By Joshua Melvin
Bay Area News Group
Article Launched: 12/19/2008 07:53:56 PM PST
A submachine gun, crack cocaine, night vision goggles and a pistol were among the items a strike team hauled in this week during two separate busts in East Palo Alto.
The first seizure occurred about 4 p.m. Tuesday in the 1100 block of Saratoga Avenue when a strike force of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park police officers approached a sport-utility vehicle parked in a driveway with three passengers inside, said East Palo Alto police detective Ed Soares.
He said the officers stopped to talk to the men because they were parked in an area known for drug trafficking.
The men had a police scanner radio, which Soares said drug dealers often use to monitor police activities to avoid arrest. A check of the men's identities revealed that Lorenzo Soolefai, 25, was wanted on a warrant for driving with a suspended driver's license and Faaitua Logo, 27, was on probation for a gun charge.
During the check, officers spotted a pair of night vision goggles, a digital scale and bags used for packaging drugs sitting on the seat of a Lincoln Town Car parked alongside the SUV in the driveway of Logo's house, Soares said.
Because Logo is on probation, police are allowed to search his house and did.
Inside they found an Uzi submachine gun and approximately 300 rounds of ammunition. Soares said it is too early to know whether the weapon had been used in any of the city's recent spate of shootings, but the gun has been sent for ballistics testing.
Soolefai and Logo were arrested and the third man released.
After police transported Soolefai and Logo to San Mateo County Jail, they found seven grams of crack cocaine in Soolefai's clothing, Soares said. Both suspects have been charged with conspiracy to sell narcotics, and Logo also with possessing the gun...
By Joshua Melvin
Bay Area News Group
Article Launched: 12/19/2008 07:53:56 PM PST
A submachine gun, crack cocaine, night vision goggles and a pistol were among the items a strike team hauled in this week during two separate busts in East Palo Alto.
The first seizure occurred about 4 p.m. Tuesday in the 1100 block of Saratoga Avenue when a strike force of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park police officers approached a sport-utility vehicle parked in a driveway with three passengers inside, said East Palo Alto police detective Ed Soares.
He said the officers stopped to talk to the men because they were parked in an area known for drug trafficking.
The men had a police scanner radio, which Soares said drug dealers often use to monitor police activities to avoid arrest. A check of the men's identities revealed that Lorenzo Soolefai, 25, was wanted on a warrant for driving with a suspended driver's license and Faaitua Logo, 27, was on probation for a gun charge.
During the check, officers spotted a pair of night vision goggles, a digital scale and bags used for packaging drugs sitting on the seat of a Lincoln Town Car parked alongside the SUV in the driveway of Logo's house, Soares said.
Because Logo is on probation, police are allowed to search his house and did.
Inside they found an Uzi submachine gun and approximately 300 rounds of ammunition. Soares said it is too early to know whether the weapon had been used in any of the city's recent spate of shootings, but the gun has been sent for ballistics testing.
Soolefai and Logo were arrested and the third man released.
After police transported Soolefai and Logo to San Mateo County Jail, they found seven grams of crack cocaine in Soolefai's clothing, Soares said. Both suspects have been charged with conspiracy to sell narcotics, and Logo also with possessing the gun...
