Early morning federal raid wakes up Valrico neighborhood
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VALRICO, Fla. (WFLA) — An early morning raid at a home on Dixie Main Lane in Valrico woke up the neighborhood with large explosions and a heavy police presence.

“This morning around quarter of 5, 5 a.m. we heard a lot of commotion coming from down there, some lights and all of that,” said C.J. Calderwood who lives just down the street.

He went outside to see special agents of the FBI and ICE on his street.

“We saw them coming in, all of that, SWAT was coming in also, and some flash bangs went off,” Calderwood said.

He says the noise is not the type of thing he often hears in his neighborhood.

“It’s a little scary for anyone when you see all of that presence of law enforcement come for one house,” Calderwood said.

Travis Hughes lives just across from the house that was raided and woke up when his dogs started barking.

“There was a whole SWAT, I don’t know if it was SWAT or what it was, but a tactical vehicle that looked like it could take an IED in the middle of Afghanistan if it needed to,” Hughes said.

Video of the morning operation showed several people being taken into custody.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately answer questions about the purpose of the raid or if anyone had been arrested.

The spokesperson says information will be released as it becomes available.

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