Photo of some of the seized guns and drugs by WAMU’s Patrick Madden

They didn’t get a rocket launcher or hand grenades, but officers from the Metropolitan Police Department and FBI did manage to seize 161 weapons and $7.2 million worth of drugs and make 70 arrests in a huge bust announced today.

The Post has all of the juicy details, which would make for a pretty compelling made-for-TV crime drama:

The house, dressed up as a recording studio, was wired by the FBI, and his clients were undercover D.C. police. When an officer listening in on a telephone conversation overheard plans to rob them instead, [Christopher] Washington was soon arrested.

Those encounters, described in court papers, were among the many that occurred during a yearlong sting operation that was revealed Monday. Authorities say officers posing as gangsters, crooked businessmen and bodyguards helped snag $7.2 million in cocaine, methamphetamines and other drugs, buy and capture 161 weapons, and make 70 arrests.

The face of the the sting operation was D.C. Police Sgt. Dale Sutherland, a veteran of undercover work. Posing as Manic Enterprises impresario Richie Valdez, head of an international string of recording studios, he could convince criminals that he was one of them — and that he wasn’t afraid to rob banks and drug dealers to boost his trade in guns and drugs. Valdez’s associates were D.C. police narcotics investigators.

And yes, undercover police officers were offered both a rocket launcher and hand grenades by Washington, one of the people arrested.