OAKLAND — FBI agents swept through the East Bay Wednesday morning, hitting a series of locations amid reports that a group of thieves had set up a station to sell stolen gasoline at an East Oakland chop shop, authorities said.
The investigation centers on a property on the 4200 block of Alameda Avenue, the same location that the California Highway Patrol raided last May while looking into a suspected large-scale cargo theft ring, according to court records.
On Wednesday, authorities seized several firearms, two trailers, a forklift, a motorcycle, and five cars all of which were suspected to be stolen, authorities said. In the May raid, police seized three firearms and recovered four suspected stolen cars and trailers in the same lot, and a dozen in the lot directly across the street, court records show.
Wednesday’s raid on Alameda Avenue involved police in Oakland and Greenfield — a city in Monterey County — as well as the FBI, authorities said. Investigators believe the group was stealing gasoline around California and offering it for sale at a discount at the Alameda Avenue location, near High Street and Interstate 880…