A seven-month undercover operation, operating out of a faux smoke shop in southwest Atlanta, has led to the indictments of 49 suspects involved in trading 373 illegal firearms, federal and local officials announced Wednesday.
Sally Quillian Yates, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, called "Operation ATL Blaze" a "proactive" response to getting guns out of criminal hands.
Roughly 1,700 weapons were confiscated last year in Atlanta, said APD Chief George Turner.
"We're taking a lot less weapons than this time last year," said Turner, adding many of the firearms confiscated during the storefront sting had been stolen from vehicles.
Undercover agents posed as employees of ATL Blaze on Cambellton Road. The fake smoke shop merchants spread the word they were interested in purchasing firearms and narcotics.
They soon attracted a shady clientele including weapons and drug traffickers and other assorted convicted felons -- some of whom ended up confessing to unrelated crimes, according the U.S. Attorney's Office.
"For example, a defendant told the agents that he and others burglarized a store while wearing masks in order to defeat the store's video surveillance system. ATF relayed this information to Peachtree City Police officers, who were able to arrest the individuals responsible for the burglary," said a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney. "On another occasion, some of the defendants approached the undercover agents about committing a home invasion robbery of a drug dealer."
Those six defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury two months ago, the spokesman said.
Turner said "Operation ATL Blaze" turned up some surprisingly sophisticated weaponry.
"I believe our streets are safer today," he said.
The multi-agency operation was led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
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