san francisco Officials announced last Thursday that the city had uncovered numerous clandestine drug and gambling dens disguised as convenience stores, all located in notorious downtown neighborhoods long associated with illegal activity and homelessness.

City Attorney David Chiu said at least nine such dens in the Tenderloin have been closed or prosecuted in the past 18 months.

He added that the shops engaged in a range of illegal activities, including gambling, selling illegal drugs, possessing firearms, trafficking in stolen goods and violating the city’s laws. nighttime safety regulationsprohibiting shops from opening late at night to curb nighttime crime.

“These convenience stores attract a lot of people Drug activityand in some cases, the stores themselves are selling illegal drugs,” said City Prosecutor Qiu.

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A homeless man sleeps on the sidewalk in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, California, USA, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

According to the announcement, the stores were suspected of illegal gambling activities, and police seized multiple slot machines (as many as 11 in a single location) as well as money counting machines. Law enforcement reportedly seized large amounts of cash, including more than $17,000 from one store.

During a search, police discovered methamphetamine concealed under a display. Other seizures found marijuana, e-cigarette cartridges and hundreds of glass pipes and Brillo pads, items commonly used to smoke methamphetamine and crack cocaine, Chiu said.

Important weapons were also found at the scene, including Guns loaded with magazinesone high-capacity Glock magazine, two additional pistol magazines and additional ammunition.

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Homeless people smoke illegal drugs at an encampment on Willow St. in the Tenderloin neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, California, Thursday, February 24, 2022. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Authorities said the convenience store was used to segregate stolen goods. Police reportedly seized merchandise from major retailers including Walgreens, Sephora, CVS and Target that still had the original price tags attached. Specific contraband included out-of-state cigarettes and 17 stolen iPhones displayed for sale.

Chiu touted the Nighttime Safety Ordinance, a legislative measure to be passed in 2024 as a two-year pilot program to combat illegal activity. He said he is now seeking to expand the curfew to further combat crime in San Francisco’s South Market neighborhood, a densely populated area known for nightlife, tech offices and a history of crime and homelessness.

People walk to work and hang out at the intersection of Leavenworth Street and Golden Gate Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, California, Wednesday, January 26, 2022. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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“Most businesses make a positive contribution to our communities, but a small number of late-night retail stores, like the ones we have closed, attract significant levels of criminal activity,” he said. “Night-night safety regulations help focus our attention on these stores and give us additional tools to close problematic businesses.”

Supervisor Matt Dorsey said he hopes these communities will eventually become “an environment that is less welcoming to public drug use, drug dealing and all drug-driven lawlessness, including illegal ring-fencing operations that contribute to the drug epidemic.”