ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – We’re getting more information about the steps Albuquerque police are taking to clean up Central. The avenue has become infamous for crime for decades now.

APD says its Central Narcotics Unit and Gun Violence Suppression Unit have been working together on the operation since January.

In the last hour, KOB 4 got a lapel video of the arrest of Charles Casias. The video shows police were starting to put down a spike belt, but Casias crashed his car before they could. Then, an officer runs to the car and tells Casias to get out of the car.

This arrest is part of an operation involving the Narcotics and Gun Violence Suppression Units. They’ve been going undercover along different parts of Central.

In this operation, officers had been tracking Casias for dealing drugs on Central and San Mateo back in February.

APD Commander Jeff Barnard says the person in the car Casias crashed into is OK. 

Casias had four felony warrants and was booked on aggravated fleeing from a law enforcement officer.

But APD says when they searched his car, they found two firearms – one of which was an automatic and had a silencer.

APD Chief Harold Medina says APD is seeing more guns like these on the streets. They also found a lot of ammo and a ton of drugs. That includes more than 3,200 fentanyl pills, more than a pound and a half of meth, 39 grams of heroin and 35 grams of cocaine.

In another operation, police arrested Daniel Saiz who had a warrant out for robbery related charges. They found a gun, a lot of ammo, gun parts and 149 fentanyl pills at his home.

The gun that they seized had seven hits when detectives put it through the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.

In Tuesday’s news conference, Medina explained why he believes the operation has been a success.

“I think there’s several things that are making it successful. Number one, we have great technology that is helping us pinpoint locations. Number two, we have very hardworking officers who are motivated,” said Medina. 

APD says they will continue the operations along the Central Corridor. In fact, on Tuesday, Medina said he plans to expand the operation to include Louisiana and Menaul.