Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino announced major results from “Operation Summer Heat,” a nationwide law enforcement initiative that has brought thousands of arrests and seized weapons since its launch in June.
In a post on X, Bongino said the operation “continues to deliver results as we strive to protect the communities we serve,” he said.
He added:
“I want to provide you another update on your @FBI’s Operation Summer Heat, which continues to deliver results as we strive to protect the communities we serve. By uniting with our communities and law enforcement partners, we stay prepared and resilient together.
“In @NewYorkFBI, our teams arrested a subject involved in the robbery of a gas station where an elderly employee was manning the store,” the deputy FBI director said.
“The @FBISeattle office saw a major success as they investigated a large-scale street gang, which resulted in the collection of 23 firearms and over 9,800 grams in drug seizures. They are accused of using female couriers to transport pills in luggage from source in Arizona to Seattle and Baltimore airports,” Bongino said.
“@FBITampa with our partners at DEA, USPS, DOL, and the Lakeland Police Department targeted a violent street gang called the Hood Boys. Friday, Twelve Lakeland, FL-based gang members were charged with paycheck protection program fraud. According to the indictments, they devised a scheme to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration by submitting false and fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications,” Bongino continued.
“Each of the defendants received between $13,854 and $20,416. Instead of repaying the loans, they either applied for the loans to be forgiven (which they were) or defaulted on them. The defendants spent the money on automobile payments and purchases at liquor stores, clothing stores, and gun stores. The total loss to the United States from these applications is approximately $236,000. The group is believed to also have ties to the Foreign Terrorist Organization, Sinaloa Cartel and be involved in the distribution of methamphetamine, cocaine, and other criminal activity in that area,” he went on.
“Collaboration between @FBINewOrleans and our partners to include ATF, U.S. Marshals, and the New Orleans Police Department, we all worked to remove illegal guns and narcotics off the streets of New Orleans. In these efforts, the operation resulted in 60 felony arrests, 31 narcotics seizure events, and an estimated removal of more than $39k in narcotics,” he wrote.
“Since its inception in June, Operation Summer Heat has resulted in 6,328 arrests and the seizure of close to 1,700 firearms. We’ve also located or identified about 770 children,” Bongino said.
“These numbers will only continue to grow along with YOUR FBI’s dedication and vigilance.
“God bless America, and all those who defend Her,” he concluded.
Bongino said last week that his office uncovered evidence from former FBI Director James Comey’s tenure in a room that had been “hidden from us,” as the bureau has been forced to reallocate resources amid ongoing internal investigations.
“I wouldn’t call it hidden, but hidden from us at least and not mentioned to us, and then we found stuff in there and a lot of it’s from the Comey-era, and we are working our damndest right now to declassify,” Bongino told Fox News.
He added: “I totally understand people saying, ‘Well, do it now.’ The process is [that] not all information is ours to declassify; some is other intelligence agencies, it’s not—we literally can’t do it.”
“Once that gets done and that gets out there, and you read some of the stuff, we found that … was not processed through the normal procedure, digitizing it, putting it in FBI records. We found it in bags hiding under Jim Comey’s FBI, and you’re going to be stunned,” the FBI deputy director added.