Four arrested after crackdown on drugs and organised crime in Crewe

Four people have been arrested in raids across Crewe, Alsager and Shavington in a week-long police crackdown on drugs and organised crime in Cheshire.

Drugs warrants were carried out by officers from the Crewe Local Policing Unit (LPU) between 6 and 13 January, targeting those who are causing significant harm to Cheshire communities.

Officers PC Tom Towe and PC Tim Clark arrested two 16-year-olds, a 19-year-old man and 47-year-old man and seized a quantity of class A drugs, drugs paraphernalia, weapons and equipment which can be used to grow cannabis.

Codenamed Operation Lineups, the strike also disrupted a county line drug operation running from the Shavington area which had contributed to the availability of Class A drugs within the village.

Crewe South Beat Manger PC Towe said: “‘We hope by doing this operation, not only will we disrupt and deal with those involved in the activity, we can warn and educate young people about the consequences of becoming involved.

“It’s also really key that as part of this work, communities feel stronger and more empowered to do what they can to prevent serious organised crime from becoming the community norm.

"We have received some really positive feedback from the community about how successful they thought that this operation has been, and how it is great to see actions being conducted against drugs.

“Local people are a vital source of intelligence and they need to help us to keep them safe by telling us what they know and turning rumours into evidence.

“New technology and legislation can help us protect people to come forward who otherwise would have been too frightened to so it’s important that people know they can trust us when they have something to tell us.”

By executing the warrant, Cheshire Police have also been able to disrupt and stop this county line from operating.

Speaking about co-organising Operation Lineups, Beat Manager for Shavington/Willaston and Wistaston PC Clark said: “It’s been great to get involved in the planning and execution phases of this week of warrants with PC Tom Towe.

“They have been hugely successful, as aforementioned; we have recovered a quantity of crack cocaine and other drugs, disrupted a ‘county line’ operation in Shavington and making the four significant arrests, notwithstanding the fact that we have also had to address the vulnerabilities and safeguarding issues that have arisen from the disrupted county lines operation. 

"We will look at executing another phase of the operation in the near future, to help keep drugs out of communities and reduce the harm these drugs cause."