Det Supt Nick Dean, from Norfolk police

More than 2,000 drugs arrests in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire

by BEN KENDALL, Crime correspondent Tuesday, April 26, 2011
5:02 PM

More than 2,000 drugs arrest were made across East Anglia last year, new figures have revealed, as police warn substance abuse fuels crime at all levels of society.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show there were 1,073 arrests - including 256 for drug dealing - in Norfolk last year. Offences range from possession of cannabis to drug production and dealing class A substances.

In Suffolk 596 arrests were made and in Cambridgeshire officers made 585 arrests.

Over the same period 19 drug factories have been shut down in Norfolk and 37 in Suffolk. Criminals assets worth well over £1m have been seized through the courts.

Det Supt Nick Dean, from Norfolk police CID, said arrest levels in the county demonstrated the force’s zero tolerance approach to drug crime.

He added: “Whether it’s street dealing or serious organised gangs, drug crime has a detrimental affect on the users but also the wider community.

“We need to send out a message that these offences will not be tolerated in Norfolk and we will work hard to make sure our communities are not exploited by criminal gangs.”

The most recent British Crime Survey shows drug offences were down 18pc nationally but these new figures show the scale of the problem that exists in the region.

In Norfolk drug offences have risen steadily over the last three years, from 923 offences in 2008. There has been a similar increase in Cambridgeshire and a slight drop in Suffolk.

The most common offence in Norfolk was possession of cannabis but there were also 105 arrests for possession of heroin and 48 for possession of cocaine.

Mr Dean said that a number of high profile operations had sent out a message to drugs gangs that the county was not a soft touch.

But he said there was no room for complacency, adding that officers must remain alert to the threat of new gangs moving in to exploit the territory left by those taken off the streets.

His comments come after a series of high profile prosecutions, including a gang from London which turned over about £20,000 a week selling crack cocaine and heroin on the county’s streets through a network of small-scale dealers.

The gang of eight - who used the Norwich landmark of Cow Tower as an unofficial “drugs kiosk” - were jailed for a total of more than 40 years after being caught selling drugs to an undercover police officer.

Three men, described as “foot soldiers” in another London-based gang, were jailed for a total of nine-and-a-half years after being caught smuggling crack cocaine into Norfolk.

And another “highly organised” drugs gang responsible for bringing thousands of pounds worth of cocaine into Norfolk are currently serving sentences totalling more than 17 years.

The gang, who dealt cocaine in Great Yarmouth, Gorleston and Caister areas, were led by Robert Munday, 30, from Cheshire who acted as a wholesaler responsible for the supply of drugs estimated to be worth more than £1m per year.

His arrest was part of a crack down aimed at disrupting the drugs trade, making it difficult for gangs from outside of the county to set up in the area.

Det Supt Dean said: “Whether its officers making street level arrests for more minor offences such as possession, to larger covert operations, we are determined to target every level of the drugs trades.

“The lower level arrests are important as we are targeting the demand that organised gangs prey upon and because it can lead to intelligence which helps us target those further up the chain.

“The number of drug offences in Norfolk has remained relatively steady over the last decade. The nature of the problem is such that gangs operate as professional businesses and, once one gang is removed, another will look to move in on an area and exploit any gaps.

“We are alive to the threat of people coming in from London and other metropolitan areas and recent operations have shown that such activity will not be tolerated.

“That’s what the community would expect and from street level offences to major operations, we adopt a pro-active stance so gangs should know exactly what they’re going to get when they come to Norfolk.”

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10 comments

Paul Platten:-"I bet that six months of training by ex army NCO's would soon clean the system and minds of the pathetic drug users." These NCO`S should start at home , drug taking is as popular as shooting people in the armed forces. "The Army is dismissing the equivalent of almost a battalion of soldiers every year for taking drugs, a report says. The Royal United Services Institute said the number of positive tests for illegal drugs, like ecstasy and heroin, rose from 517 in 2003 to 769 last year. Positive tests for cocaine use rose four-fold during the same period. A dishonourable discharge is likely after a positive test for illegal drug use. "

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CUTHBERT. J TWILLIE

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
As we are paying for it, the cost effectiveness is what concerns me-an expensive police action for a fine for small scale possession of cannabis is pointless. I am all for freedom of use, but not if it means I am picking up the bill via crime, housing benefitsunemployment benefits, social care for children or as was revealed recently for disability payments for the drunk, obese or drug addicted. So I advocate a three tier system- legalised drug use being ok if the lifestyle can be supported financially and socially by the user or immediate imprisonment and addiction treatment for those who commit crime to fund a habit and the workhouse for those rendered incapable of paying their own way or of caring for their children by drug taking, gluttony or drinking.

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Daisy Roots

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Paul, nothing to do with liking your reasponse, try thinking prgamatic, if you want to throw more money away by introducing ex squaddies into the equation, hoping they will change people's mind, than you are hoping for hell to freeze over. Alun B has just about got it right, unless there is a reform of the misuse of drugs act, Paul, nothing will change.

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ingo wagenknecht

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Assuming of course that the masked raider wasn't just trying to fund his habit....

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Valpy Word

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
2,000 arrests. Impressive. How many convictions? How many arrests were for petty little possession amounts while masked raiders are out holding up shops at gunpoint? The Police are a standing joke.

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Valpy Word

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
One can imagine the problems we would have if the sale of alcohol was to be made an offence - would it stop people drinking? No. Would it stop people selling? - no. It's the same with drugs. All though history people have taken substances (plants and plant products) to ease their suffering, escape or simply "get high" - and no doubt they will continue to do so. But instead of granting them the same protection in law as the users of alcohol get, the users of some drugs become criminalised and forced to either go to dealers or else risk growing their own, in the case of cannabis. Those users, whether they benefit or are harmed, whether they harm others or not, risk arrest - all at taxpayers expense - a massive amount running into billions annually. And the dealers profit and don't even have to assure quality or pay tax. We can go on and on arresting users - but there will be more; we can continue arresting dealers but there is a seemingly endless queue or would be profiteers willing to replace them. Forty plus years down the line and all we have achieved is a huge file of criminalised people many of whom did not harm at all. It is time that the politicians admitted that the present "war on drugs" has failed and an alternative approach is required. Otherwise I confidentially predict we will read articles similar to this one over and over again

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Alun Buffry

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Mots of the problems could be solved and the massive amount of cash the taxpayer is charged to cover police costs fighting drugs could be saved, if the Government took control instead of leaving the supply in the hands of street dealers. Let's face it, we've been trying to reduce drug consumption using police for over 40 years and it achieves nothing but criminalising people - often cannabis users that do no harm. As for the highly lucrative dealing, there is a seemingly endless queue waiting to take the place of those locked up - again at public expense. Adults will take drugs for various reasons as they have been doing for centuries. People will seek to profit from that as they have done for centuries. The alcohol, caffeine and tobacco industries show that to be true. But unlike alcohol and tobacco, drugs classed as "illegal" (that is, illegal to possess or produce supply), people are left at the mercy of crooks and police. It is time the Government acted responsibly and introduced systems of legal but controlled supply based upon risk - cannabis being one of the safest recreational and therapeutic substances around.

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LesleyJ

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
"police warn substance abuse fuels crime at all levels of society" - I assume this includes alcohol.

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Thoreauwasright

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
I bet that six months of training by ex army NCO's would soon clean the system and minds of the pathetic drug users. After six months a compulsory check to see if drug free, if not back you go for another six moinths training. No one exempt be it a TV person,footballer, pop star, lawyer or an out of work person. I doubt you'll like that suggestion Ingo.

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Paul Platten

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
An utter waste of money and effort, it shows that prohibition is not the answer, that the misuse of drugs act is a political moralising tool devolved of any scientific credence and that we will continue to criminalise young future taxpayers in this country, for a weekends misdemeanor and for life. Det. Supt Dean and many others are failing to change the culture, their effort and paramilitary style propped up by a useless, unscientific law has achieved nothing much in decades whilst cost us tens of billions that could have been spent better. The misuse of drugs act has failed us, it should be repealed and reformed. Some drugs will have to be controlled, taxed and utilised to its full extend, something that should be debated in public, but never is, as politcians are shying away from it.

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ingo wagenknecht

Tuesday, April 26, 2011