28 arrested in Dorset during week-long drugs operation
Thousands of pounds of cocaine, heroin and crack has also been seized
Dorset Police have arrested 28 people in a week (9th to 15th October), as part of the South West operation tackling drug dealing.
A large quantity of drugs have been seized too:
- £6,700 worth of cocaine
- £1,500 worth of heroin
- £1,000 worth of crack
Our county force has also helped to safeguard four adults and children, who might have been at risk of harm.
The results are from the latest phase of Operation Scorpion, which has been running across the region.
This time, Wiltshire Police, along with Avon & Somerset, Gloucestershire, Devon & Cornwall and Dorset - say they put a 'Ring of Steel' across the region to 'make it an inhabitable environment for drugs and criminal gangs'.
The focus has been on the impact of drugs within our local communities, and the intelligence police forces need from people to help disrupt the South West drugs market, dismantle drugs supply networks and arrest those who profit from them.
Speaking on behalf of the five regional police forces, Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Catherine Roper said:
"Operation Scorpion is about combining the resources, intelligence and enforcement powers of all the police forces across the South West to create the most difficult environment for those intent on dealing illegal drugs across our region.
"These positive results from last week's activities of arrests and drugs seizures show that we are being effective in disrupting the illegal drugs trade - taking illegal substances off the streets, arresting those who deal them as well as dismantling those criminal gangs and county lines.
"However, equally as important is the work we are doing to protect and help those vulnerable people - often children and young adults - who are exploited to become part of these criminal networks. These victims are usually threatened with violence - and sometimes are even on the receiving end of this violence - which forces them into working for these criminal gangs.
"Safeguarding these vulnerable victims is our priority along with protecting all in our communities. Those living in our neighbourhoods whose lives are very much blighted by this type of criminality which causes misery and harm to the many who live and work in our villages, towns and cities.
"Our work doesn't stop at the end of this operation. We know that those who supply and distribute illegal drugs operate in a borderless way, creating complex networks of drugs lines across the region. We will continue to take a strong and robust stance against this sort of exploitative criminality.
"Our message is clear – the South West is no place for drugs.”