Police in California have arrested 17 folks in reference to a sequence of shootings in Gurdwaras in Stockton, Sacramento and different places and seized weapons akin to AK 47, handguns, and at the least one machine gun in a sequence of raids carried out over 20 locations, the State Lawyer Normal stated Monday.

The 17 felony arrests, largely members of the native Sikh neighborhood, have been made throughout a large-scale operation with brokers executing search warrants at 20 places in Northern California on Sunday based on an announcement made by California Lawyer Normal Rob Bonta, Yuba Metropolis Police Chief Brian Baker, and Sutter County District Lawyer Jennifer Dupré.

At a information convention Dupré stated, two of the folks arrested are mafia members who’re “needed on quite a lot of murders” in India.

The arrested members, stated California Lawyer Normal, are a part of rival prison syndicates who’re alleged to be chargeable for quite a few violent crimes and shootings, together with 5 tried murders, in Sutter, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, Yolo, and Merced counties.

Members of those teams have been allegedly concerned in a mass taking pictures at a Stockton Sikh temple which occurred on August 27, 2022, and a taking pictures at a Sacramento Sikh temple on March 23, 2023.

Through the investigation, regulation enforcement was in a position to forestall two extra shootings from occurring, a press launch stated.

“At the moment, California is safer due to collaboration, willpower, and swift motion by DOJ brokers and our regulation enforcement companions in Sutter County,” stated California Lawyer Normal Rob Bonta.

“No household ought to ever have to fret about drive-by shootings or different types of gun violence within the neighbourhoods the place their kids reside and play. Because of this joint regulation enforcement effort, we’re taking weapons off the road and placing suspected gang members and their associates behind bars,” he stated.

“An investigation of this magnitude requires an amazing quantity of effort and time, and particularly a variety of personnel,” stated Sutter County District Lawyer Normal Jennifer Dupré.