Another £5,000 of drugs seized as police promise 'no let up'
POLICE have warned there will be no let up in their crackdown on drugs as they seized another £5,000 of illegal substances in more raids in Brixham yesterday.
It means officers have confiscated a total of £20,000 of suspected drugs in two days in the town.
PC Lee Langley, who is spearheading the blitz, said: "There will be no let up. We will be on people's tails for as long as they continue to break the law."
Officers say the use of recreational drugs, such as cocaine and cannabis, is a problem in the port and will not be tolerated.
On Tuesday, £15,000 of suspected drugs including heroin, methadone, highly addictive crack-cocaine, cocaine, cannabis and magic mushrooms were seized from five properties.
Two men were arrested.
Officers busted a further four properties yesterday morning finding £5,000 of suspected cocaine in a flat in Bakers Hill and small quantities of cocaine and cannabis at two flats in Milton Street.
A 28-year-old man from Bakers Hill was arrested on suspicion of intent to supply Class A drugs and is due to be interviewed by Torquay CID.
A 34-year-old man from Milton Street is due to be interviewed on suspected possession of cannabis and a 21 year old, also from Milton Street, faces an £80 fixed penalty fine.
Brixham's PC Dave Thomas praised the officers involved in the raids saying their hard work had produced 'superb results'.
He added: "These raids have been really successful. We are really pleased with the results and hope it has an impact on the drugs trade in Brixham.
"It is part of a continued operation to stamp out drug dealing and using in the port.
"We have got a problem with recreational drugs, such as cocaine and cannabis, that we need to crack down on. It seems to get worse when there's more money around."
The raids, codenamed Operation Wallington, form part of the ongoing Operation Fundamental aimed at combating the distribution and use of Class A drugs in Torbay.
It involves officers from various departments including members of the Tactical Aid Group, operation support teams and uniformed officers.
In the past 13 weeks officers involved in the initiative have seized drugs with an estimated street value of £62,000 executed 51 warrants, made 34 drug-related arrests and seized three cars across the resort.
PC Langley added: "The raids in Brixham this week have been organised jointly by the Brixham Neighbourhood Beat Team and the Operation Fundamental team who have come together to orchestrate nine raids in the town.
"There has been good cooperation between the Brixham team and Operation Fundamental which has produced these excellent results."
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by stephen, brixham
Monday, November 09 2009, 3:53PM
“The main reason cannabis is still illegal is public opinion,the politicians want the votes so they listen to the people,but why do the people think cannabis is bad,because the government tell them its bad!Do you see how we are manipulated by the powers that be.do your own research!!”
by steve jones, brixham
Monday, November 09 2009, 3:50PM
“The main reason cannabis is still illegal is public opinion,the polotitions want the votes so they listen to the people,but why do the people think cannabis is bad,because the government tell them its bad!Do you see how we are manipulated by the powers that be.do your own research!!”
by David, Kingsteignton
Thursday, November 05 2009, 10:59PM
“I was saddened to hear of the Home Secretary Alan Johnson's decision to remove Professor David Nutt from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on Friday after Nutt argued that ecstasy, cannabis and LSD were less harmful than alcohol.
Nutt's dismissal is upsetting because it is now truly evident that the government is getting rid of advisers simply because they did not like their advice. I am saddened that millions of people are criminalised for choosing to ingest substances what are evidently ¿less harmful¿ than alcohol. My gut instinct is that the main risk of taking these substances is a legal one and the fact that (mainly) young people are putting themselves in danger by having to associate with criminals to obtain their chosen stimulant.
As a father I would not want my son exposed to LSD and to a lesser degree ecstasy, but the thought of having him walking around Torquay bars/pubs/clubs at closing time really is truly scary.
A YOUGOV poll supports the reduction of penalties for possession of cannabis it is unfortunate that the Labour party and some tabloid newspapers do not. I realise that standing up to The Sun and their ilk may, in the short term not be a vote winner. The unscientific political row over cannabis classification has however become a platform of being seen to be tougher on crime than other political parties; people¿s lives are suffering as a result. I worked for the prison service during the late 1990¿s and was saddened to see many cannabis users/dealers serving time and being turned into something they patently were not-criminals.
The prohibition of cannabis has led to the situation where harder strains are the only types available, due to ¿improved¿ restrictive practices on the drug¿s importation during the past twenty years. Cannabis users have no choice but to use the domestically produced harder strains because that is all that they can find.
During my time living and working in Switzerland I saw first hand how many cantons had decriminalised the use of cannabis and reduced the prison populations, halting the criminalisation of its otherwise law abiding citizens and guess what, Switzerland is not a drug addled crime infected state! For the record I do not ingest any illegal drugs but that is my lifestyle choice. These MPs from the Labour party (and many other MPs of all parties) have all claimed a few years ago in a mildly bizarre ¿fessing up¿ period to have possessed and ingested cannabis:
Andy Burnham, Hazel Blears, Vernon Coaker, Tony McNulty, James Purnell, John Denham, Harriet Harman, Alistair Darling, Ruth Kelly.
I am sure they are fine upstanding people who all avoided being led onto harder drugs so let's educate our young people and let¿s not lie to them. If we falsely represent cannabis why on earth should they listen to us when it comes to substances that will really cause harm?”
by Biffo, Paignton Zoo
Thursday, November 05 2009, 10:03PM
“Another small point how did the photos get taken, I thought this was a surprise raid, obviously a photographer will always be present at a sudden raid????
Cinderella you did the best thing...there is nothing worse than a bully with drink in him hitting a lady.”
by Cinderella, Brixham
Thursday, November 05 2009, 9:08PM
“I agree with what is being said here, making something illegal automatically makes it more attractive. That is the nature of the human race. If recrational drugs were legal and controlled dealers would be unemployed and crime would be less.
Alcohol is the problem, I was never scared of my ex after he had smoked a joint but I was after he had downed a few pints. That is why he is my ex, I got brave one day!”