Police raid 29 homes from Devon to Scotland making 16 arrests and seizing £150,000 in cash, a gun and 20kg of heroin, cocaine, crack and cannabis in blitz on drugs gang making £1m a year
- The raids were the result of a year-long investigation into London drug dealing
- Police from six forces carried out the warrants from Plymouth to Aberdeen
- The 16 people arrested over drug charges are aged between 25 and 43
Police have seized 20kg of Class A and B drugs, a handgun and £150,000 in cash during a series of dawn raids at 29 homes across the UK this morning.
The drug dealing gang, whose ringleaders earn £1million a year, were targeted in the series of raids from Plymouth to Scotland on Wednesday.
Police from six forces carried out the warrants, arresting 16 people in the operation.
Police have seized 20kg of Class A and B drugs, a handgun and £150,000 in cash during a series of dawn raids at 29 homes across the UK this morning. Pictured: a haul of cannabis found during a warrant
The drug dealing gang, whose ringleaders earn £1million a year, were targeted in the series of raids from Plymouth to Scotland on Wednesday. Pictured: a handgun recovered in Hackney
The raids were the result of a year-long investigation into drug dealing in Hackney, north London.
Police discovered that the gang had supply routes all over the UK, covering Plymouth, Bristol, London and as far north as Aberdeen.
Officers from the Met, Kent Police, Essex Police, Avon and Somerset Police, Devon and Cornwall Police and Police Scotland all took part in the raids on Wednesday.
The drugs recovered were heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine and cannabis, and a gun was found at one of the addresses visited in east London.
Police from six forces carried out the warrants, arresting 16 people in the operation and seizing £150,000 in cash
Detective Inspector Tom Pearse, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: ‘The supply and distribution of drugs doesn’t contain itself within the M25.
‘It’s a fluid and toxic commodity that leaks out into the Home Counties and beyond, often leaving a trail of violence in its wake.
‘By collaborating with other police forces, we have removed those in the middle levels, as well as those at the top of the chain who were making in excess of a million pounds a year.’
The 16 people arrested are aged between 25 and 43 and were held on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
One person has also been arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm.
The raids were the result of a year-long investigation into drug dealing in Hackney, north London