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Miami drug bust.

shadowcat

Atlanta suburb

Dozens of Miami-Dade police officers burst into the popular Booby Trap and LaBare strip-club complex near Doral late Friday to arrest dancers and employees believed to have dealt cocaine, marijuana and other drugs to undercover detectives for more than a year.

The operation, dubbed "Neon Lights," shocked patrons with dollar bills in hand and interrupted bachelorette parties at LaBare, where annoyed women shouted at police officers to go on stage. The operation went off without a hitch, as detectives let patrons go but arrested at least nine people, seized drugs and found at least three guns.

"We had received information from our sources about trafficking and moving drugs through here, whether it be cocaine or other substances," the undercover detectives spearheading the case told the Miami Herald.

Detectives from Miami-Dade's narcotics bureau had been investigating the Booby Trap since the end of 2016, doing a series of undercover buys and surveillance operations that led a judge to sign off on 10 arrest warrants for suspected dealers. A judge also approved a search warrant for the complex at 5325 NW 77th Ave., next to the Palmetto Expressway.


The raid included agents from the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Florida Division of Alcohol Beverages & Tobacco. A team of Miami-Dade prosecutors was also on hand, including ones from the human-trafficking unit.

The popular complex houses two strip clubs. The Booby Trap features "over 40 girls" and "free lunch," according to the marquee. LaBare boasts rippled men; at least one features a James Bond act who uses a toy gun, something cops were warned about before the raid.

Throughout Saturday morning, confused patrons pulled up to the club, baffled that it was closed. Inside, dozens of 'girls' and employees were questioned and searched. Exactly how many arrests — and the identities of those arrested — were not immediately known Saturday afternoon.