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Police in Haiti announced Tuesday that they regained control of a critical telecommunications hub that heavily armed gangs<\/a><\/span> had seized last week, briefly disrupting air traffic and internet connections.<\/p>\n The takeover was a rare success for Haitian authorities and a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police that have struggled to push back powerful gangs<\/a><\/span> seeking full control of the capital, Port-au-Prince.<\/p>\n The police operation at the T\u00e9l\u00e9co site in the once peaceful community of Kenscoff began before dawn on Monday and lasted about two hours, according to Michel-Ange Louis Jeune, spokesperson for Haiti\u2019s National Police.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a strong message that the new police chief sent,\u201d he said, referring to Andr\u00e9 Jonas Vladimir Paraison, who was appointed to the post earlier this month.<\/p>\n Jeune did not take questions during the news conference and did not say how many people, if any, were killed during the operation.<\/p>\n He said police found numerous guns, including automatic weapons with scratched-out serial numbers, and more than 1,000 bullets.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the population is sleeping, the police are not sleeping. They are working to ensure that people can sleep,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Last week, gangs filmed themselves taking over the T\u00e9l\u00e9co site, telling the government it had less than a week to start negotiations. The person in the video did not say what, if anything, the gangs were demanding.<\/p>\n \u201cYou see, this is not a rumor. I am in T\u00e9l\u00e9co,\u201d a gang member who goes by the name of Didi says in the video. \u201cIf I don\u2019t receive any calls from you guys, I\u2019m going to get my clan to come burn the whole system now, and there won\u2019t be any communications.\u201d<\/p>\n In another video, one gang member is seen apparently switching off multiple buttons on a large server and using a screwdriver to disassemble another server as the room he\u2019s in stops humming. He later stacks several motherboards outside and films them as he says, \u201cI\u2019m taking everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Two days after the takeover, Haiti\u2019s civil aviation agency condemned the action but noted that it only caused minor disruptions since it was able to implement certain measures to circumvent the crisis.<\/p>\n The attack was blamed on Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang federation that struck other key government infrastructure last year and was designated as a foreign terror organization by the U.S. earlier this year<\/a><\/span>. Early last year, gunmen forced Haiti\u2019s main international airport to close for nearly three months<\/a><\/span> and raided the country\u2019s two biggest prisons, releasing some 4,000 inmates.<\/p>\n In the video where gunmen raided T\u00e9l\u00e9co last week, Didi called on the government to hand out bullets to police so they could come and go after gang members.<\/p>\n Godfrey Otunge, the Kenyan commander of the multinational force in Haiti, was present at Tuesday\u2019s news conference but spoke only briefly.<\/p>\n \u201cBe patient; you will see results,\u201d he said as the police spokesperson promised similar raids in other gang-controlled areas.<\/p>\n T\u00e9l\u00e9co is located in the same community as an orphanage that gangs raided earlier this month. They kidnapped eight people, including an Irish missionary and a 3-year-old child, who remain missing.<\/p>\n Gangs are estimated to control about 90% of Port-au-Prince<\/a><\/span>, and they have repeatedly attacked Kenscoff this year to try and take over the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n