The surprise raid by the agents and authorities started simultaneously, garnering attention from the citizens no matter how they tried to keep the commotion smaller.
As the teams emerged and showed themselves, some nobles still wanted to retaliate, but after knowing that this was the order of the emperor, all of them knew that they had been discovered and only wanted to escape.
However, the majority of the targeted noble spies on the list were captured quite easily, and the agents managed to secure them. These were the disposable spies in the eyes of the organization, and they weren't alerted to the upcoming raid.
And a few of the noble spies had now started to fight back in their teams; these were those who might already have high authority in the organization.