SANTA ANA, Calif.—Federal authorities have arrested a dozen people associated with a chain of nine marijuana stores that operated in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

The U.S. attorney's office says the 12 taken into custody Thursday are among 14 people named in a drug-trafficking indictment returned by a federal grand jury last week.

Most of the stores had been targets of search warrants executed in 2010 and 2011, and most are now closed.