() Federal agents over the weekend arrested 70 migrants during a raid at a South Carolina nightclub authorities allege is run by a suspected member of a Mexican cartel.
The 3 a.m. operation, dubbed “Operation Last Stand,” took place Sunday at the Alamo, which is described as an underground, illegally run nightclub in Summerville. Summerville is located about 25 miles outside of Charleston.
ABC News 4 reported that around 200 federal, state and local agents descended on the club and arrested 80 people, the vast majority of them in the U.S. illegally. Authorities also recovered drugs, guns and cash from the premises.
A Department of Homeland Security news release said that six juveniles were taken into custody, but authorities amended that number to 10 at a news conference Monday. Some of the teens taken into custody are believed to be victims of human trafficking.
The youngest of the teens is 13, and one had previously been reported missing. State social services are providing care where needed.
The Post and Courier reported that the investigation into the Alamo began in November, following noise complaints, and progressed from there. DHS officials said that the raid itself was based on a tip that the nightclub was being used for trafficking, as well as for stashing weapons and drugs.
The club, which has been permanently closed by county authorities, was allegedly run by a suspected member of the Los Zetas cartel. Los Zetas, now formally recognized as Cártel del Noreste, was designated a terrorist organization in February by the Trump administration.
Authorities identified the Alamo’s owner as Benjamin Reyna-Flores. Reyna-Flores, 59, has thus far been charged with alcohol-related offenses, according to Charleston County jail records.
He is also being held on an ICE hold.
Cardell Morant, a special agent in charge with Homeland Security Investigations, said Monday that the raid took place as more than 200 people gathered at the club for a “cartel afterparty.” A total of 116 previously filed arrest warrants were served on the 80 people who were arrested.
Five of the people arrested had criminal warrants, including Sergio Joel Galo-Baca. According to DHS officials, the Honduran fugitive was being sought by Interpol on a homicide warrant in his home country.
“This operation was not just about immigration enforcement, it was about restoring order,” Morant said at the news conference.
Charleston County Sheriff Carl Ritchie said two of those arrested were “high-level cartel members” with ties to Los Zetas and the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua cartel.
There has been trouble brewing at the Alamo long before Sunday’s raid, according to the Post and Courier. Former Sheriff Kristin Graziano told the newspaper that the department had been aware of the trouble since her time in office.
“This investigation into the nightclub started way before Ritchie,” Graziano said. “It’s been years in the making.”
Its previous location in Hanahan was shuttered in 2016, two years after it opened, based on close to 50 reports of public urination, drugs, DUI arrests and assaults, the newspaper reported.
The noise complaints that ultimately led to the current ongoing investigation date back to at least 2022.
