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Arsenal Found in Adeline St. Apartment By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday July 22, 2005
Richard Brenneman:
            Berkeley Police Field Training Officer S.J. Wilson carries one of two machine guns found as part of a massive cache in the apartment over Black & White Liquor Store after an early morning fire Wednesday.
Richard Brenneman: Berkeley Police Field Training Officer S.J. Wilson carries one of two machine guns found as part of a massive cache in the apartment over Black & White Liquor Store after an early morning fire Wednesday.

Federal agents seized a major arms cache that included explosives, machine guns, assault rifles, and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition discovered as Berkeley firefighters battled a blaze in a 3027 Adeline St. liquor store early Wednesday. 

The arsenal was found in an upstairs apartment over Black & White Liquor Store. In addition to the weapons and explosives, the apartment contained 178 marijuana plants in a sophisticated “grow” operation. 

Among the items seized from the apartment were: 

• Two machine guns. 

• A 50-caliber Barrett sniper rifle, which fires slugs capable of killing at ranges of more than a mile. 

• At least two dozen military assault rifles. 

• Assorted shotguns. 

• Handguns. 

• A pair of bullet-proof vests. 

• Illegal “loud reports,” a mortar-launched fireworks explosive charge that produces a sharp noise and a brilliant flash of white light, that federal agents said can cause considerable damage. 

“Thank goodness the fire didn’t spread to where the weapons were stored. It could have been a real disaster for the neighborhood,” said Marti McKee, public information officer for the Northern California office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). 

Police found the apartment’s tenant, 45-year-old Leslie Tanigawa, in the crowd that had gathered to watch the firefighters in action. He was taken into custody without incident, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

Tanigawa’s address is listed as 2001 Emerson St. because the entrance to the two upstairs apartments is located on the side of the building facing the cross street one block south of Ashby Avenue. 

Deputy Fire Chief David P. Orth said the fire appeared to have been intentionally set and began outside the downstairs liquor store. Firefighters discovered the weapons cache as they entered an upstairs apartment in their efforts to contain the blaze. 

The fire began in the narrow, four-foot space between the liquor store and La Balafon, an African art store and braiding salon at 3217 Adeline St. The blaze didn’t spread to the other structure. 

Orth said the fire caused an estimated $35,000 in structural damage and $15,000 in losses to contents of the wooden, two-story building. 

“Most of the damage to the store was done to one wall, but when we arrived it was spreading inside the wall to the apartment upstairs,” Orth said. 

Firefighters inadvertently broke dozens of bottles of booze as they struggled to contain the blaze. Orth said, “When the first guys came out of the store, the smell of liquor was so bad that I asked them, ‘What’ve you been drinking?’” 

Emergency dispatchers were notified about the fire at 2:48 a.m. Wednesday, and by the time the blaze had ended at 3:39, ten companies had responded with five engines, two ladder trucks, two ambulances, 28 firefighters and two chiefs. 

A fire company from Oakland was dispatched to cover Berkeley in case another fire broke out in the city, Orth said. 

Firefighters chopped a hole in the roof to provide ventilation in case the fire spread to the attic, “where it would have taken hours to contain,” he said. 

The first had already spread to the kitchen of the apartment with the arsenal.  

Only one of the two upstairs apartments was occupied; the second was undergoing renovation, Orth said. Berkeley Police called in the ATF after the arms were discovered, “and they have taken over many of the firearms aspects of the case,” he said 

By mid afternoon Wednesday, Berkeley and Oakland Police and a team of ATF agents were hauling out the contents of one of two apartments.  

“It was a good-sized seizure,” said John Lee, Resident Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Oakland Field Office, deferring other comments to Marti McKee, press officer for the ATF’s Northern California Office. 

Tanigawa has been booked on six felony counts, Okies said. Three of the charges stem from the loud reports: storage of fireworks without a valid permit, possession without a valid permit and felonious possession of fireworks. 

He is also charged with two drug counts for the cultivation and possession for sale of marijuana. 

The sixth count is a felony firearms charge stemming from the assault rifles. 

Additional and still more serious charges could result from the federal investigation, particularly if tests confirm early suspicions that many of the weapons have been illegally modified to fire automatically—that is, to fire continuous bursts so long as pressure is maintained on the trigger. 

“From a preliminary examination, it appears that at least a few are fully automatic,” McKee said, “although we will have to await a final determination by our experts.” 

McKee declined to give an exact count of the weaponry or a list of their types, saying that such information was confidential and would only be released if an indictment is handed down by a federal court. 

Possession of the explosive fireworks could also result in federal felony charges, because permits for possession and storage are required at both the state and federal levels. 

The liquor store has been targeted by neighborhood activists, who see it as a source of violent crime. 

Six weeks ago Black & White Liquors was the target of a Berkeley Police sting resulting from reports that the store was willing to buy stolen booze. 

Officers arrested store clerk Satnan Singh on five felony counts of attempting to possess stolen property on June 10 after a police recorded him attempting to buy liquor he was told was stolen. 

Black & White owner Sucha Singh Banger, the building’s owner, also owns Grove Market, two blocks to the west at the Ashby Avenue/Martin Luther King Jr. Way intersection. 

Neighborhood activists have tried to close both stores, said former City Council candidate Laura Menard. “Both of them are our problem liquor stores in North Berkeley,” she said. 

Two men helping to clean up the fire scene Thursday morning threatened to assault a reporter who took a photograph of the fire damage through the store’s open front door.