Twelve arrests and heroin, £10,000 cash and cars seized

people have been arrested as part of a crackdown on serious and organised crime which saw police carry out dawn raids in Sunderland and Durham, as well as in the North West.

More than £10,000 cash, six luxury cars and £165,000 worth of heroin were just some of the items seized after coordinated strikes were carried out in Sunderland, Durham and on Merseyside after a lengthy operation.

Led by officers from the Force’s Priority and Organised Crime department, a total of 80 Northumbria and North East Regional Special

Operations Unit officers were supported by 85 colleagues from Merseyside Police as a total of 15 addresses were hit - six in Sunderland, three in Durham and six in Merseyside.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Paterson from Northumbria Police said: “I hope today’s activity sends a very clear message to those individuals who think who think they can get away with supplying these illicit substances.

“As a force, we have a very clear priority to do everything we can to purse dangerous individuals and to tackle seriTwelve ous and organised crime.

As part of a long-running investigation into an organised criminal group suspected of supplying Class A drugs and money laundering, firearms ammunition, officers previously uncovered a cannabis farm at an address in Sunderland and arrested a male who they traced travelling from Liverpool to Sunderland with one kilo of heroin worth £55,000.

So far, cash totalling more than £25,000, Large quantities and wraps of Class A drugs have been seized as well as an estimated £50,000 haul of cannabis.