Nine held in county lines drugs raids
HARROGATE: Police made nine arrests, recovered thousands of pounds of drugs, and also seized weapons in a crackdown on county lines drug dealing.
North Yorkshire Police worked with the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), the Home Office and the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre.
POLICE HAVE made nine arrests, recovered thousands of pounds of class A drugs, and also seized weapons as part of a crackdown on county lines drug dealing in Harrogate.
Four days of action saw North Yorkshire Police work in partnership with the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), the Home Office and the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre (NLCC) to identify a new county line impacting on Harrogate
Cocaine and heroin with a street value of £2,600 was recovered by officers, as well as cannabis and amphetamines, and £500 cash. Eight mobile phones were also seized, as well as a large hunting knife and officers also identified a new county line impacting on Harrogate.
During the four days of activity, police also visited 76 people who are considered vulnerable to county lines exploitation.
Detective Sergeant Marcus Dawson, from North Yorkshire Police, said: “The safeguarding of vulnerable people continues to be a key focus of our work and these nationally funded days of action are very welcome, providing a boost to our existing proactive work, and allowing us to protect more people and disrupt more drug dealers.
“They also give us an opportunity the gather more intelligence about drug dealing, information that then goes on to inform more operational activity in the future.”
Notable arrests include four teenage boys, who police believe were “cuckooing” a vulnerable person in Harrogate. This is where drug dealers or “runners”, who are often exploited themselves, travel out of their area and need somewhere to stay to sell their drugs, often targeting vulnerable people.
Officers recovered a significant quantity of crack cocaine and heroin, phones, cash, and the large hunting knife. One of the boys has been charged with possessing heroin and crack cocaine
Safeguarding of vulnerable people continues to be a key focus of our work. Det Sgt Marcus Dawson, from North Yorkshire Police.
with intent to supply and is currently awaiting trial. The other three remain on police bail while the investigation continues.
In another incident two men were stopped travelling from Leeds to Harrogate and arrested after officers found 26 bags of suspected MDMA and cocaine inside a pizza box. The pair were released under investigation.
A 30-year-old man from Southampton was also found with 11 wraps of suspected cocaine after officers became suspicious of the car being driven around the town. He has been released under investigation.