Police seized 37kg of cannabis in Truro as part of a series of raids across the region to crackdown on illegal drug activity. The Operation Scorpion week of action resulted in 26 arrests and 48 people, including 19 children, being safeguarded in Devon and Cornwall.
Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, has described Operation Scorpion, which sees the five South West police forces join together to crack down on drug dealing and associated crime, as ‘an enormous success.’ More than 90 people were arrested and £40,000 cash seized across the South West during the week of activity which ran in conjunction with the national County Lines Intensification Week.
In total across the region:
95 people were arrested £47,863 cash was seized 37kg of cannabis, plus 564 cannabis plants were seized 3.7kg of cocaine was seized 107 people were safeguarded, including 32 children
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The week of activity – from November 25 to December 1 – had a particular focus on child criminal exploitation (CCE), where criminals groom and exploit young people into carrying out crimes on their behalf. This often involves drugs and county lines, as gangs use children and vulnerable people to sell drugs and move money.
Across the week, officers worked with partners to conduct a range of community-led engagement activities on CCE, including talks in schools, educational stalls at high-footfall locations in towns and cuckooing checks for vulnerable adults and children.
A range of enforcement activity also took place, as warrants across the counties resulted in tens of thousands of pounds of cash being seized and Class A and B drugs being taken off the streets. Commissioner Hernandez said: “Yet again Operation Scorpion has proved an enormous success and sent an unequivocal message to drug dealers and others engaged in illegal drug activity that the South West is no place for drugs.
“Drugs cause untold misery to communities and it’s often the more vulnerable in society who pay the highest price, being preyed upon by ruthless criminals who put them at risk to further their own ends. I am pleased that this round of Operation Scorpion has not only taken drugs off our streets, but protected a huge number of people across the South West including children whose lives were at risk of being ruined by illegal drug activity.
“My message to parents or guardians worried about criminal exploitation of young people is to not shy away from having the difficult conversations with a child and know what signs to look out for.”
Operation Scorpion is a collaboration between the five police forces in the South West region (Avon and Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire), alongside their respective offices of Police and Crime Commissioners, the British Transport Police and South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SW ROCU) to combine resources to tackle drug supply in the region and make the South West a hostile environment for drugs.
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