San Francisco police raid multiple drug houses in Oakland; 5 arrested

Police in San Francisco on Monday announced the arrests of five people and raided four Oakland homes last week in connection with a drug trafficking investigation.

On Wednesday, investigators conducting surveillance found a vehicle linked to the suspects entering San Francisco. A drone tracked the vehicle to the South of Market, where five suspects exited the vehicle and boarded a Muni bus near 2nd and Mission streets.

Several officers boarded the bus and detained all five suspects. During a search, officers said they found narcotics and evidence linked to drug sales.

The suspects, identified as 19-year-old Wilmer Mendez-Raudales, 26-year-old Francisco Cruz, 33-year-old Eduardo Linares, 21-year-old Nestor Quinonez-Cubas, and 22-year-old Nestor Reyes-Palma, were arrested.

Police said one of the suspects was a convicted felon and two suspects had open court cases in San Francisco.

After the arrests, officers, along with sheriff's deputies and two police dogs executed search warrants at four Oakland homes linked to the suspects. During the searches, police said that eight pounds of narcotics were seized, along with equipment to package the narcotics.

The searches also yielded multiple weapons, including a rifle, shotgun and two handguns, along with body armor, ammunition, more than $10,000 in cash, digital scales and money counters.

"The SFPD will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold offenders accountable and to keep our neighborhoods safe," Chief Derrick Lew said in a statement. "SFPD officers will continue to be relentlessly enforcing the law, making arrests, and doing all we can to continue the progress we have made together."

All five suspects were booked into San Francisco County Jail on multiple charges, including possession of a controlled substance for sale, operating or maintaining a drug house, conspiracy, transportation or sale of controlled substances and receiving stolen property.

Mendez-Raudales and Cruz are also accused of committing a felony while on bail or release, while Linares is also accused of being a felon in possession of a firearm.