FLAT SHUT DOWN BY COURT OVER DRUG TURF WAR FEARS
COURT TOLD HOW LOCALS WERE LEFT IN FEAR
A FLAT feared to have been at the centre of a drugs turf war has been shut down by police.
Trouble linked to the property in Dean Street, Bangor, left neighbours, local businesses and their customers in fear.
The woman tenant of the flat did not attend a hearing at Caernarfon magistrates court, but North Wales Police solicitor Gareth Preston outlined a catalogue of issues that gave the force cause for concern.
He said there had been violence, fears of “cuckooing” involving Liverpool drug dealers taking over the flat, discarded needles, reports of men coming and going armed with machetes, and worries over a potential drug feud.
Customers at one shop had to be locked in because they were so afraid for their safety.
Some local workers were said to be too afraid to go to their places of work.
Mr Preston told District Judge Gerallt Jones that some of the people linked to the flat were “well-known to the courts”. Among them were convicted drug dealers.
He alleged crack cocaine and heroin being supplied by a man in the High Street was stored at the drugs den.
A witness described the flat as “full of druggies”.
When police went to the flat, a man outside shouted “Police, police” to a woman in an upstairs window. It took her a long time to let officers in.
Mr Preston said “unsavoury characters” had been loitering around the building and there were reports of drug-dealing in the street.
Earlier this month, a young man sitting on a step outside the building was allegedly dragged inside by a group described as “Scousers”, and robbed.
“Police have been aware of trouble at the property for some considerable time,” Mr Preston said.
The flat was ordered to close for three months.
The housing association was said to be trying to evict the tenant, who was currently staying elsewhere.