Vancouver police arrested two suspected gang members Friday while serving a drug- and firearms-related warrant at a Central Park address.
Detectives with the Safe Streets Task Force, alongside regional SWAT officers, served the warrant at 1523 X St., which was granted due to evidence of methamphetamine possession and firearms trafficking involving Sureno gang members, according to a Vancouver Police Department release.
Police contacted three people and arrested two suspects: Javier Solis Valero, 35, and Rene Morales, 27.
A search of the residence and a car turned up a quarter-pound of meth, “user amounts of cocaine” and a stolen handgun, police said.
Valero was booked into Clark County Jail on suspicion of possession of both the aforementioned drugs, intent to sell meth and unlawful possession of a firearm.
The police department noted in its news release that Valero has multiple, similar past convictions, as well as an arrest for attempted murder in Oregon.
Morales was booked into the jail here for meth possession.
Police said that both Valero and Morales are members of the Sureno gang.
Police said no other details were available.
The police department has a unit dedicated to investigating gang-affiliated crimes full time, and the Surenos and Nortenos are the focus of much of its work, said VPD spokeswoman Kim Kapp.
They are the two most common gangs active in the Vancouver area, but there are other subsets of major nationwide gangs here, Kapp said.
