Three key leaders of two violent Southeast Asian street gangs were arrested Thursday in a series of raids in San Diego and Riverside County, the state Attorney General's Office announced yesterday. Two of the three were arrested in San Diego. Their names were not released. Agents seized rifles, a sawed-off shotgun and a Tec-9 machine pistol while serving seven search warrants Thursday morning. Ammunition and night-vision equipment were found. The San Diego police gang unit and Mid-City officers assisted in the raids. Although the two gangs are based in San Diego, many members have relocated to the Temecula Valley, according to the state Department of Justice gang unit. Before Thursday's raids, police had arrested 27 gang members and associates on suspicion of murder, robbery, burglary, identity theft and other crimes. Last year, one of the gangs was involved in a shootout with agents and police in City Heights. Authorities said Tri Minh Vo and a companion, Cao Lam, entered an apartment and shot six people, killing one of them. Agents who were conducting surveillance on Vo at the time heard the shooting and pursued the gunmen.
In a shootout that followed, a Department of Justice agent was injured and Lam was killed. The agent has since recovered.

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