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Police: 4 men arrested for trafficking stolen items

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Credit: Seattle Police Department

Police arrested four men last week who they say are suspected of trafficking items that were stolen from downtown Seattle stores.

As part of a two-month operation, undercover officers followed the men to dark alleys, restaurant booths and alcoves where they allegedly exchanged small amounts of cash for valuable stolen goods.

The Seattle Police Department's West Precinct's Anti-Crime Team worked with the department's Major Crimes Task Force and identified a small, group of men buying stolen items near Third Avenue and Pike Street.

PHOTOS: Police arrest men suspected of trafficking stolen items

Police believe the traffickers were targeting drug users, employing them to steal items from stores and paying them a fraction of what the items were worth.

According to police, the undercover officers approached the traffickers, who gave the officers shopping lists of clothing items.

On March 1, investigators served search warrants on two Burien apartments, a trailer in Federal Way and a home in Renton.

Four suspects were arrested.

Police said they recovered $17,000 worth of liquor, 75 boxes of perfume worth $6,000, purses, wallets, Tide detergent pods, jackets, jeans and sunglasses, and $50,000 in cash, all valued at $70,000 in the Federal Way home. Police also found $10,000 in stolen goods inside a storage unit in Des Moines.

Police recovered $111,000 in stolen property and $50,000 in cash. They believe the men may have been shipping some of the items out of the country to be resold.

The men were booked into the King County Jail for possession of stolen property and stolen property trafficking.

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