MacKenzie Elmer

melmer@dmreg.com

Eighteen people were arrested Thursday after federal and local law enforcement raided 20 central Iowa properties looking for drugs and weapons.

The early morning raids targeted properties in mostly residential portions of Des Moines, Clive and Urbandale and included officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Homeland Security; IRS; and local police and sheriff's deputies.

U.S. Marshals, ATF agents and Des Moines police, including a police dog unit, executed a search warrant at the Park Ridge apartments on the city's south side around 8 a.m. Law officers had their firearms drawn, but it didn't appear any arrests were made at that location.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa said the following people were arrested in the raids:

Jonathan Escareno Chavez

Heriberto Escareno Chavez

Gumaro Escareno Chavez

Hugo Plaza Garcia

Jacinto Loza Gil

Maria Obedilia Castro Galinda

Basman Danuvio Urbina Caceres

Jose Manuel Cano Basurto

Antonio Salazar

Jimmy Oswar Kiapas Hidalgo

David Coos Tello

Steven See

Oscar Sylvester Corea Holt

Lee Anthony Flores Escareno

Mujo Becirovic

Miguel Flores Torres

Marcos Caballero Ybarra

Israel Morales Florez

Criminal charges were not immediately available Thursday afternoon.

The raids are similar to a series of raids last August that resulted in nine people being arrested on methamphetamine and weapons charges. Police discovered one man was selling meth out of a mechanics shop. Another man kept ammunition in a stuffed tiger's head.

Investigators used a host of techniques during that investigation, including arranging purchases of methamphetamine through confidential informants and attaching a GPS tracking device to at least one vehicle.

Federal search warrants were executed at the following areas:

300 block of Granger Avenue, Des Moines

1100 block of Burnham Avenue, Des Moines

1400 block of East Ninth Street, Des Moines

1400 block of Des Moines Street, Des Moines

1400 block of East 32nd Street, Des Moines

1600 block of East 31st Street, Des Moines

1800 block of Lay Street, Des Moines

3200 block of Hull Avenue, Des Moines

3800 block of East 14th Street, Des Moines

700 block of Broad Street, Des Moines

2600 block of Oxford Street, Des Moines

2500 block of N.E. Broadway Avenue, Des Moines

2800 block of Indianola Avenue, Des Moines

3200 block of Indianola Avenue, Des Moines

4100 block of 57th Street, Des Moines

4100 block of 55th Street, Urbandale

6700 block of Madison Avenue, Urbandale

7500 block of Canterbury Road, Urbandale

8100 block of Harbach Boulevard, Clive

8300 block of Alice Avenue, Clive

Register reporter Charly Haley contributed to this report.