More than two dozen drug traffickers arrested in SWFL-wide investigation

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State Attorney Amira Fox announces the arrests of 24 accused drug traffickers in Southwest Florida, Friday, April 28, 2023. Credit: WINK News

State Attorney Amira Fox announced the arrest of 26 drug traffickers and their associates after a joint undercover operation between Southwest Florida law enforcement agencies.

The investigation initially began in Collier County, but now spans the area after the investigation led to people across Southwest Florida, Fox said during a press conference at Southwest Florida International Airport on Friday.

“Standing here today with me are net force partners who have all collaborated in this massive drug bust operation,” Fox said.

Net force, that’s what Fox called her narcotics enforcement task force. In a joint, months-long undercover operation, local and federal agents worked together, making 26 arrests.

The operation led to law enforcement getting 4.5 kilos of cocaine, 160 grams of fentanyl, 461 grams of meth, and 75.5 pounds of marijuana off the streets. They also seized more than $250,000, 20 firearms, and two vehicles in the operation.

Fox said that together the Collier and Lee County Sheriff’s Offices, Fort Myers and Cape Coral Police, Port Authority, Homeland Security, and other federal agencies disrupted and dismantled narcotics crime families who make a living poisoning our community.

“This is a multi-month investigation, with unconventional hours at the drop of a hat, having to go miss so many family obligations that it doesn’t go unrecognized,” Anthony Sizemore, Chief of the Cape Coral Police Department, said.

“We are proud to have been a part of this great case and to have used the resources of our agency to help make southwest Florida a safer place,” John Yancey, with Homeland Security, said.

Fox said investigators “identified multiple individuals responsible for trafficking cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine” from places “as far away as Texas.”

Fox said the task force seized more than 4,000,000 grams of fentanyl in its last three operations. that’s enough to kill everyone living in Southwest Florida.

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