Rise of county line drug operations in Chesham
On officer said London gang members are targeting vulnerable members of the community.
London gang members are apparently travelling into Buckinghamshire to target vulnerable community members.
Gangsters moving their drug business beyond London into Buckinghamshire have been increasing their operations in Chesham – and many are exploiting the railways as a way in.
Sergeant Roy Evans of Thames Valley Police told members of the Chesham and Villages Community Board, on Wednesday, September 30, this surge in activity is a “worry” for the force, adding it has carried out trackside operations to curb drugs flooding in via the railways.
He said: “We have been seeing an increase in county drug line gang members coming into Chesham.
“We are getting a lot of intelligence to suggest that these people are coming from London, and quite a number of them are picking on our most vulnerable communities.
“Obviously, this is a worry for us as a neighbourhood team, so we are trying to deal with that head on.
“Working with our Amersham colleagues we have being doing proactive operations into drug dealing and county drug lines and trying to intercept these people.
“We are constantly updating our intelligence and reviewing all cases and if there is a certain amount of activity that happens in a certain area then we try to flood that area with officers or PCSOs.
“In future we will conduct door-to-door enquiries straight after incidents happen to get fast time intelligence and find out who these people are.”
Sgt Evans said TVP had recently conducted an operation at Chesham Station using a drugs dog “to stop county drug lines using train lines”.
“We had quite a lot of positive results from that operation,” he said. “Every single person we stopped was in possession or admitted they had been in possession of drugs.”
Sgt Evans dismissed criticism it is the role of British Transport Police to tackle crime on trains, saying: “I would rather intercept anyone coming into my town dealing drugs.”
A similar operation in Ashley Green saw a “high quantity” of drugs and cash seized from a vehicle, he said. “I’m hoping charges will follow,” he added.
The dogs also searched a “hotspot” in Chesham and a knife was found hidden in bushes, according to a TVP report.
Sgt Evans said other top priorities since May for TVP in Chesham are burglary and antisocial behaviour.
He added: “Chiltern and South Bucks is one of the most targeted areas in the force for burglaries.”
“We’ve launched a new Facebook group for local news junkies, politics fans and everyone who wants to keep up to date with the latest issues affecting Chesham. Please join the conversation over at Buckinghamshire Politics.”