The Boston Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said its three-month sweep under Operation Summer Heat 2.0 resulted in 176 arrests across Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island and the seizure of almost 50 kilograms of illegal drugs in the region.
Regional results and national context
The FBI said the local effort, which ran from June 1 through Sept. 20, also recovered 69 illegal weapons and located or identified 44 children in investigations involving violent crime or crimes against children. Those figures were part of a larger national enforcement effort the FBI reported this fall.
- Boston Division (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island): 176 arrests, almost 50 kilos of drugs seized, 69 weapons recovered, 44 children located or identified.
- National totals for Operation Summer Heat 2.0: 8,927 arrests, 5,013 illegal weapons recovered, 687 kilos of seized fentanyl, and 27,512 kilos of cocaine.
- Investigators working crimes against children identified or located 1,410 child victims nationwide, the FBI said.
The agency described the operation as a multi-pronged effort that combined federal, state and local resources to execute federal and state warrants, dismantle violent gangs, disrupt drug trafficking, and rescue children involved in violent-crime investigations.
“It’s no secret that violent crime often surges in the summer, which is why the FBI and our partners joined forces to combat it by removing repeat violent offenders, gang members, drug traffickers, child predators, bank robbers, and fugitives from our streets,” said Ted E. Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division.
Enforcement tied to drug violence and fentanyl seizures
The Boston Division highlighted the seizure of nearly 50 kilograms of “deadly drugs” locally, a reference the FBI has used in public statements to describe fentanyl and other illicit narcotics. At the national level, the FBI reported the recovery of 687 kilos of fentanyl during the operation, a figure agencies have emphasized in describing the scope of the overdose crisis.
The bureau also noted that its wider Summer Heat initiative came as the FBI earlier announced a decline in the nation’s violent crime rate in 2025, including an 18% drop in murder and nonnegligent manslaughter. The Boston Division said the arrests and seizures in its four-state area were intended to reduce violence, interrupt trafficking and protect children.
The FBI did not provide a public breakdown of how many of the regional arrests occurred in each state, including New Hampshire, or detailed lists of the substances seized within the nearly 50 kilograms of drugs recovered in the Boston Division area.
