DENVER ( KDVR ) — While a local network of law enforcement worked to identify criminals in the Denver metro area, the team also confiscated hundreds of deadly weapons and drugs throughout its 2024 investigations.
The Regional Anti-Violence Enforcement Network, also known as RAVEN, is a multi-jurisdictional task force with investigators, detectives, special agents and other personnel and partnering agencies to investigate violent criminals, gangs and drug traffickers in the Denver metro area.
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The Aurora Police Department, one of the organizations involved in the network, said RAVEN conducted 61 new investigations, in addition to 74 other ongoing investigations from prior years, to find weapons and drugs and arrest over 100 violent offenders over the past year.
Deadly weapons, drugs confiscated in Denver metro
In total, the task force seized 151 firearms in 2024, which included 114 handguns, 34 rifles and three automatic machine guns. The department said investigators also confiscated 10 explosive devices and 23 auto sears, which are used to convert a semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic weapon.
RAVEN also confiscated 100 pounds of illicit narcotics, including more than 12 kilograms of cocaine, almost 32 pounds of bulk marijuana, more than three pounds of methamphetamine, over 28 pounds of powdered fentanyl and more than 25,500 fentanyl pills.
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During those investigations, the department said RAVEN also arrested 127 violent offenders who face felony charges including homicide or attempted homicide, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon by a previous offender and other weapons charges…