CHICAGO, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Two dozen members of a Chicago street gang have been charged with drug trafficking and passport fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.
The charges against the members of the Belizean Bloods street gang, said to operate in Chicago and Evanston, Ill., were contained in an indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, a release said.
The charges arise from two coordinated investigations that included agents from multiple federal law enforcement agencies as well as the Chicago and Evanston Police Departments, the department said.
In 2009, the Chicago Field Office of the U.S. State Department's Diplomatic Security Service began investigating alleged passport fraud by Belizean nationals, while at the same time the FBI and Evanston and Chicago police were investigating alleged narcotics trafficking by suspected members of the Belizean Bloods.
"These coordinated efforts demonstrate the commitment and teamwork of all law enforcement agencies in the Chicago area to combat the dangerous combination of gangs, guns and drugs in our community," Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said.
