Drug raids target public housing

A crackdown on drug activity at Kalihi’s Kuhio Park housing led to the indictment of 37 people, raids in Hawaii and California, and the arrest of 22 people Thursday.

A joint investigation by the FBI, the Honolulu Police Department and the federal Homeland Security Department resulted in indictments on drug trafficking and firearm charges at the state public housing complex.

Six indictments allege 105 drug trafficking offenses from July 2014 to November, and five firearm offenses, U.S. Attorney for Hawaii Florence Nakakuni said in a news release.

“The focal point of the underlying investigation was massive drug activity at the (formerly named) Kuhio Park Terrace housing complex,” FBI Special Agent Tom Simon said. “We are hoping that these arrests make the complex a safer place to live for the residents,” he said.

Eighteen of the 37 indicted — two women and 16 men — appeared Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, shackled and handcuffed, before federal Magistrate Judge Richard Puglisi.

Four were arrested in California, including a Hawaii resident. Another five were previously arrested “in connection with the overarching investigation in this case” and are in federal custody, and two others are in state custody, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

If convicted of the most serious drug charge in the indictments, the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison with a mandatory minimum term of 10 years.

Charges allege defendants distributed or intended to distribute mainly methamphetamine and some cocaine. One of the indictments also alleges a defendant carried a loaded .38-caliber handgun. Another alleges a defendant was carrying a loaded .40-caliber firearm.

The government has seized cars and sizable amounts of cash, including $117,128 from a Waianae home.

The Hawaii defendants range in age from 22 to 65 and are from Honolulu, Waipahu, Ewa Beach, Aiea and Kaneohe.

A source close to the residences, who declined to be named, said four units were raided at the Towers at Kuhio Park.

Hakim Ouansafi, executive director of the State Public Housing Authority, said his agency cooperated and provided information to investigators.

The housing agency will conduct its own investigation to see whether the management companies have been following rules and policies, he said.

The former Kuhio Park Terrace is managed by two private firms. The high-rise Towers at Kuhio Park is managed by Interstate Realty Management, an arm of the Michaels Organization, and Realty Laaua manages the low-rise homes.

“Initial information is they are not our residents,” Ouansafi said. If they were, they would face expedited evictions, and if found guilty of a felony would be barred for life from public housing.

Any residents who may have opened up their homes to such persons would face consequences, he said.

“If any criminal activity happens, eviction proceedings on an expedited basis would start,” Ouansafi said.