'Operation Tropic Like It's Hott' concludes with over 50 arrests; over 100 firearms, drugs seized

A months-long narcotics operation concluded with more than 50 arrests and firearms confiscated, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno announced Thursday.

The drug bust, dubbed "Operation Tropic Like It's Hott," targeted those who supplied narcotics in Southwest Florida, Marceno said. While the operation concluded in Lehigh Acres, it spanned county wide, he clarified.

"Several more suspects are being sought as we speak," he said.

Marceno said the narcotics unit recovered hundreds of pills; 1 kilogram of fentanyl; nearly 2 kilograms of meth; 7.5 kilograms of cocaine; 80 pounds of illegal marijuana; and more than 100 firearms confiscated with "thousands of rounds of ammunition in the hands of the worst of the worst."

"This is not a law-abiding citizen working with their constitutional rights," Marceno said. "These are violent felons that wouldn't think one second to kill an innocent person to make money."

Authorities executed more than 50 search warrants throughout the operation, Marceno said.

"Look at the guns and the drugs on these tables," Marceno said. "Lives are being saved."

Among the items Marceno exhibited during the press conference was a pill maker.

"You plug it in and it pumps pills, possibly filled with fentanyl," Marceno said.