It was more like Normandy than Puerto Rico. Boarding planes in the middle of the night, hundreds of FBI agents, analysts and examiners flew into Puerto Rico before dawn Wednesday and took down about 130 local police and law enforcement personnel on corruption charges, in what the Justice Department called an “unprecedented” bust.
In all, as many as a thousand FBI personnel took part in Operation Guard Shack, according to FBI and Justice Department officials.
“Agents came from various locations at different times beginning last week and over the weekend,” FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said.
FBI veterans struggled to recall anything remotely comparable to the island-wide raid, which netted 129 of the 133 law enforcement suspects charged with providing protection for drug deals. Undercover FBI agents conducted 125 drug deals, said federal officials.
In all, 89 law enforcement officers and 44 "others" were arrested, the Justice Department said.