VIERA, Fla. -- It was described as the biggest roundup of suspected drug dealers in the history of Brevard County. Investigators said simultaneously raids Wednesday landed 30 suspects.
"Go! I'll tell you right now, go on about your business. I'll tell you one more time or you are going to go with my foot in your a**," a friend of suspect Delvin Bernard Flowers told an Eyewitness News reporter when he went to Flower's home Wednesday after he had been arrested earlier in the day.
Flowers, police said, was at the center of the investigation into one of Brevard County's largest drug trafficking operations. Flowers, also known as Nob, was one of 30 people arrested Wednesday morning in a dragnet that extended from Cocoa to Orlando.
" For the last seven to eight days, it has been 24 hours a day, seven days a week surveillance," said Asst. U.S. Attorney Rick Jancha.
Authorities dubbed the sweep Operation Turn The Knob, seizing cocaine, crack, several high-powered weapons and $30,000 in cash.
Among those arrested was 30-year-old Shondrae Bain, who worked in the administrative offices of the Kennedy Space Center and was employee of the month in January 2000.
Bain and the others face federal drug trafficking charges. Investigators said the web of dealers were responsible for selling and distributing thousands of kilograms of cocaine and thousands of pounds of marijuana.
" Needless to say, selling of cocaine and distributing of cocaine will be very different, very limited for years to come," said Brevard County Sheriff Jack Parker.
More than 100 law enforcement officers from various agencies raided more than a dozen homes simultaneously in the early morning hours Wednesday. Authorities were pleasantly surprised by how many and who they were able to nab.
" These are not, in my opinion, low level guys at all, but mid to high level dealers that needed to be taken off the streets, " Parker said.
Investigators were still following the drug trail from the arrests. They believe the drugs are coming from overseas and were supplied by two groups, one made up of Mexican nationals and the other a group of Haitian nationals with operations based partly in Orlando.
