A two-year investigation in Santa Rosa County culminated this week with the arrest of 30 people on state and federal drug charges, officials said Thursday.

The local, state and federal investigation centered on the sale of cocaine in Milton and Bagdad and resulted in arrest warrants for 45 people, Sheriff Wendell Hall said at a news conference Thursday.

Law enforcement was continuing to search for the remaining suspects.

The Sheriff's Office said some of the suspects also are believed to be involved in at least three shootings, including one at a Pensacola nightclub, and some home-invasion robberies.

"These were big targets, and they certainly were worth the time and effort and the money that was spent on (the investigation)," Hall said.

The 25 suspects facing state charges are accused of selling illegal drugs, including cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, prescription pills, methamphetamine and Ecstasy, Hall said.

The 20 suspects facing federal charges are suspected of being involved in a crack and powder cocaine ring in Santa Rosa County, Hall said.

The investigation resulted in more than 1,100 grams of powder cocaine and 130 grams of crack cocaine being purchased from the suspects, Hall said.

Twelve of the 20 arrested on federal drug conspiracy charges appeared Thursday afternoon in federal court in Pensacola.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Goldberg said the government will seek to hold each of the defendants without bond until their trials.

He also said one of the defendants tried to sneak a cell phone into Santa Rosa County Jail.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Timothy scheduled preliminary hearings and detention hearings for the 12 defendants for July 10 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Miles Davis.

Goldberg said each defendant faces a possible life sentence in federal prison on the drug conspiracy charges.

The Sheriff's Office's investigation, dubbed "Operation No Limit," began in 2006.

"The investigation began after officers found out Limit Street, located in Bagdad, Fla., had become an open-air drug market, riddled with crime and illegal activity," Hall said.

Federal agencies were asked to assist with the investigation after investigators felt they had uncovered a large-scale drug operation, Hall said.

Investigators found that suspects on Limit Street would sit in chairs on the edge of a wooded area and sell to customers going by in vehicles, said Capt. Jim Spencer of the Sheriff's Office.

"They would just drive by like Burger King," he said.

Wiano Slack, 47, lives in a mobile home on Limit Street across from where the drugs were being sold.

Slack said she often complained to the men she would see across from her home about what they were doing. In retaliation, Slack said the men threw glass bottles at her home and broke windows.

Slack also said she contacted law enforcement about the illegal activity. She said she thought the drug dealing never would end.

"It was very miserable," she said.

Tina Augustave, 45, grew up on Limit Street.

Augustave, who moved back to Bagdad earlier this year to take care of her mother, said she was surprised to hear drug activity was going on the street.

"It's your typical Southern, country community," she said. "It's somewhat quiet, kind of a church community."