‘A short-term solution’: Chinatown residents cautiously optimistic after massive drug bust
Jun 3, 2025, 7:02 PM
A person bikes across 12th and Jackson in the Chinatown-International District. (Photo: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio)
(Photo: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio)
One day after the Seattle Police Department (SPD), the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced nearly a dozen arrests following an 18-month undercover operation in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID), I went back to the neighborhood to see how people are feeling about the operation.
The feds said 14 suspected drug traffickers were indicted following the 18-month undercover operation dubbed “Operation Jungle Shrike.” Eleven were taken into custody and three others are being sought. SPD said these suspects preyed on the vulnerable, the homeless, the addicted, and the mentally ill in the CID. Their arrest should make the area safer.
“These criminals did the worst kind of damage to our community,” SPD Chief Shon Barnes said. “Armed with guns, including assault rifles.”
At 12th and Jackson, the most troubling intersection in the CID, it was eerily quiet Tuesday morning. Usually a hub for all types of illegal activity—open-air drug sales and use, I saw less than half a dozen people, most waiting for public transportation.
“It’s definitely been cleaner, like, in the morning, but it’s really just dispersed issues around the neighborhood,” CID resident Genevieve MacNeil said.
Chinatown residents skeptical calm will last
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MacNeil has lived in the CID for two years. She’s felt fear and avoided certain areas. She sees improvement, but is skeptical it will last.
“I’m sure it helps for like the short term,” MacNeil said. “It’s been nice. But, nighttime is when you’ll see more activity. I mean, it’s a short-term solution.”
The city is hopeful residents will feel safer following the big drug bust and CID Ambassadors on the street daily from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m., keeping an eye out for trouble.
Both steps in the right direction, one man shared.
“During the day, I don’t think about it as much,” CID Resident Shane Lozenich said. “It’s obviously possible to have dangers in the daytime, but in the nightime, I think it would be helpful to have some kind of presence.”
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