Joint operation targets drug supply

An imitation firearm, a large amount of Class A drugs and cash along with several vehicle seizures have been made over recent days following a joint policing operation involving North Wales and Merseyside Police.

On Friday, 25^th and Sunday 27^th June, officers from the North Wales Police Intercept Team along with local officers, held a day of action under the banner of Merseyside Police’s Operation Medusa – set up to target County Lines.

Officers undertook proactive patrols and checks in Flintshire and Rhyl as well as parts of Merseyside.

Several arrests were made, including a male who was seen driving a Volvo by officers in Shotton. The Volvo was on false plates and the driver failed to stop. The vehicle drove into a hedgerow and the driver decamped. Following a brief foot chase he was detained and a quantity of what was suspected to be Class A drugs were found in the vehicle. The driver was arrested on suspicion of failing to stop, dangerous driving, unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle, driving whilst disqualified and drug offences.

A man was arrested in Holywell after being caught mid-transaction with a known drug user. Following a search a number of individually wrapped bags of white powder, believed to be crack cocaine was seized along with a large quantity of cash and a mobile phone.

A youth was arrested in Flint following a stop search where he was found to be concealing an imitation firearm. He has since been released under investigation.

And a man was arrested in Holywell on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of drugs after being found with £5,000 in cash.

Drug drive arrests were made in Shotton and Connah’s Quay and several stop searches were undertaken linked to drug supply. Several Traffic Offence Reports (TOR’s) were issued to drivers for offences such as defective lights, using a mobile phone and failing to wear a seatbelt whilst driving, defective tyres, no MOT and insecure loads.

A total of 16 vehicles were seized for a variety of offences including no insurance and drug supply.

Chief Inspector Jon Aspinall from North Wales Police said: “The recent activity comes on the back of the work we’re carrying out day in, day out to arrest those involved in this type of criminality and shut down County Lines and is another example of the success achieved by our close partnership with Merseyside Police.

“Criminals who operate County Lines do not respect borders, the communities they bring misery to, or the vulnerable people they exploit in the pursuit of illegal proceeds of crime.

“Whilst our officers were deployed to local areas, officers from Merseyside were deployed at the transport networks targeting buses and trains coming into North Wales. We’ll continue to disrupt and dismantle the activities of these Organised Crime Groups because there is no place for them in north Wales."