A multi-year, multi-agency effort to infiltrate and dismantle a large-scale drug operation that involved drugs being trafficked from Mexico and Puerto Rico to Southwest Florida has resulted in 15 arrests and the confiscation of drugs, guns and cash.<\/p>\n
The State Attorney\u2019s Office and NETFORCE law enforcement partners served seven search warrants throughout Lee and Collier counties in recent days as part of Operation Gulf of America. <\/p>\n
All 15 suspects that were being sought were located, taken into custody and face a variety of charges including conspiracy, drug trafficking, and maintaining a residence for purposes of drug trafficking, officials said.<\/p>\n
Evidence seized during the execution of the warrants and during the arrests include 30 firearms; 1.83 grams of Fentanyl; nearly 10 kilos of cocaine; 10.4 grams of Oxycodone; 1,127.4 grams of marijuana; 730.6 grams of THC wax, and an estimated $150,000 in cash.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis investigation started from an extensive investigation by the Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office,\u201d the State Attorney\u2019s Office said in a release following a press conference in Fort Myers. \u201cNETFORCE then joined and began the multi-agency Operation Gulf of America. Due to the size of this investigation, additional law enforcement agencies from Texas to Puerto Rico, also assisted. Of the 15 defendants arrested, some worked day jobs and were also drug traffickers. One defendant worked in an assisted living facility in Collier County and another defendant worked in the construction industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis demonstrates the brazenness of this problem,\u201d State Attorney Amira Fox said. \u201cThese drug traffickers hide in plain view, living as if they are law-abiding citizens but are trafficking deadly drugs into Southwest Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cOperation Gulf of America shows NETFORCE will do what it takes to find those responsible for drug<\/p>\n
trafficking. We will track you, find you, and prosecute you, to the fullest extent of the law,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Cape Coral Police Department, Fort Myers Police Department, Lee County Port Authority Police, Collier County Sheriff\u2019s Office, State Attorney\u2019s Office, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA), led the investigation locally.<\/p>\n
NETFORCE was formed by Fox in conjunction with law enforcement agency partners to coordinate a circuit-wide approach to infiltrating and dismantling drug trafficking organizations, organized crime, racketeering, and money-laundering enterprises in Southwest Florida. <\/p>\n
NETFORCE includes federal, state, and local agencies working together. In addition to the State Attorney\u2019s Office, they are Homeland Security Investigations, FDLE, Cape Coral Police Department, Fort Myers Police Department, Lee County Port Authority Police, Collier County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Naples Police Department, FHP, Marco Island Police Department, Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office, U.S. Marshals Service, DEA, Customs and Border Protection (Air and Marine Operations), HIDTA, Hendry County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Punta Gorda Police Department, Charlotte County Sheriff\u2019s Office, and Glades County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
Source: State Attorney\u2019s Office<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A multi-year, multi-agency effort to infiltrate and dismantle a large-scale drug operation that involved drugs being trafficked from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-261158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}