Man charged following London raid by Sussex police
Priti Patel watched the events unfold
Last updated 17th Sep 2020
A 20-year-old man has appeared infront of Crawley Magistrates’ Court following a raid in Brixton by Sussex and the Metropolitan police.
Cameron Halton of Brighton Terrace, London SW9 was been charged with being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin.
Priti Patel also joined officers for the raid as part of an operation targeting 'County Lines' offending.
The home secretary said:
“I have made rolling up county lines drugs gangs an absolute priority. We have provided police with £25 million to tackle this exploitative trade, and I have today seen first-hand the impact of that investment. The police will continue having my full support in the fight to keep the public safe.”
Detective Chief Inspector Will Rolls of Sussex Police said:
”This is another example of the way we and other forces are working together with the Met and in our own communities, to target and disrupt dealers. We work relentlessly to target, investigate, arrest and prosecute drug dealers who cause harm in our local communities and exploit children and vulnerable adults”.
“Police activity is only one part of the solution, we need to reduce the demand, prevent our children and young people being drawn into using drugs and support those addicted to these lethal substances. We are working collaboratively with partners from local authorities, charities, substance misuse use services, and schools to protect the public across Sussex.”
The West Sussex-based Community Investigation Team has worked with colleagues from the Met to dismantle so far nine ‘lines’ running Class A drugs to Crawley, Worthing and Bognor. The main organisers in four cases have already been convicted and sentenced to a total of nearly ten years imprisonment and people have been charged in the other five cases.
For several months Sussex Police have been working with the Metropolitan Police on Operation Orochi, which targets drugs dealers based in London, with the aim of systematically dismantling their drugs ‘lines‘ they operate running into Sussex.