Seven arrested in cops crackdown
Drugs and cash also seized in two-week crime blitz
ATEAM of cops arrested suspected drug dealers and gang members during an ‘intense’ two-week crackdown in Rochdale.
They also uncovered a fake taxi linked to drug dealing and found a ‘hide’ in a car containing sim cards linked to drugs lines in the town.
An Inspector, two sergeants and 10 constables form the crack Operation Venture team which was set up in 2022 to tackle crime hotspots across Greater Manchester. For the last fortnight, the squad has been ‘embedded’ in Rochdale, according to Greater Manchester Police.
Among the results trumpeted by the force are the arrests of seven people, 12 stop and searches which resulted in seizures or other ‘positive outcomes,’ class A and B drugs seized val- ued at £2,000 and ‘dirty cash’ totalling £5,000 uncovered.
Parks and other open spaces linked to crime have been swept for weapons and, while out and about, officers have received 36 separate pieces of intelligence which are now being analysed.
Officers also made four swoops on suspected violent offenders although they remain at large.
Listing the most notable arrests and seizures during the fortnight, the force said officers collared a man, 29, on suspicion of drug-driving after an Audi RS3 ‘tried to evade’ cops in Castleton.
The car was seized.
A day later, the officers raided a house in Smallbridge linked to serious crime. Inside, officers say they obtained conflicting accounts from those inside as well as documents linking some of them to organised crime groups.
An investigation into what the officers found at the property is ‘ongoing,’ says GMP.
Later on the same day, Op Venture patrols pursued a vehicle that failed to stop. When it was eventually
stopped, the driver was found to be an unregistered keeper, said GMP.
In Falinge plain-clothed officers witnessed a drug deal take place next to an Audi A3 with a pedestrian customer, said the force.
With support from uniformed patrols, the vehicle was stopped and prevented from leaving. Inside the car police found 26 individually wrapped snap bags of cannabis and around £5,000 in cash.
Three men, aged between 19 and 26, were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class B drugs and money laundering.
Venture officers were also deployed to Heywood where cops spotted vehicle linked to the supply of vapes to young people. The driver was stopped and detained. In the rear of the car police found 12 boxes of vapes along with £400 in cash. It is against the law to sell vapes to anyone under 18.
“All the evidence was later seized in conjunction with trading standards,” said the force.
Cops also stopped a vehicle, an unlicensed taxi, which intelligence suggested was linked to the supply of drugs to young people, said GMP.
After the vehicle activated a number of ANPR cameras, undercover Venture cops began to follow it and later they stopped it in Spotland.
Following a search, officers seized £600 in cash and 40 snap bags of cocaine as well as a suspected ‘burner phone.’ A 22-year-old man was arrested and the car was seized.
During another swoop, cops arrested a man, 26, on suspicion of suppling class A and B drugs. He had been arrested only days earlier for a similar offence, according to GMP.
Inside his vehicle police found drugs and a mobile phone, and also a ‘hide’ containing further mobile phones and sim cards suspected to be related to a drugs line operating throughout the borough, along with several vehicle keys.
After the two-week blitz, Inspector Jon Ezard, of GMP’S Operation Venture team, said: “After being back in Rochdale for an intense period of time we have shown again that our work is disrupting crime.
“This is in particular of (sic) new intelligence being recovered and shared across officers in terms of criminals trying to actively hide their dealing within the vehicle by creating spaces to avoid detection.
“I can assure the local community we will continue to patrol areas of concern and will continue to collate and act on information received from residents too.
“Operation Venture is having some real success locally due to our relentless approach of embedding ourselves within areas we know criminals use on a regular basis.”