The Southern California homes of dozens of white supremacists were raided Tuesday as part of a probe into a string of potentially deadly booby trap attacks targeting police officers, authorities said.

Federal and local officers converged on 35 homes and took 16 people into custody in Riverside County for a variety of crimes, including weapons, narcotics and parole violations, Hemet police Capt. Dave Brown said.

None of the arrests were directly related to the booby trap attacks that have plagued the small Hemet Police Department since New Year's Eve.

"But we hope some (arrests) will lead us to our suspects," Brown said.