Police have arrested 12 people on suspicion of dealing class A drugs in a series of dawn raids in Manor Park this morning.
More than 100 officers were involved in the detention of men in their 20s and 30s from 18 locations around the Warrior Square area, including homes in Selborne Road and Jack Cornwell Street.
The raids involved officers from Newham and neighbouring boroughs alongside members of the Met’s Territorial Support Group and was the result of a six-month operation.
The group were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply a number of different drugs including heroin and cocaine.
“This operation sends out a very clear message,” said Det Chief Insp Neil Matthews said. “If you go and carry out a one-off warrant those involved in drug offences will think, ‘Oh it’s his turn to be arrested this week, never mind’.
“But if you demonstrate, like we’ve just done, the use of enforcement to take down a whole load at once they’ll think, ‘Oh, they’re taking a really serious approach to this.’
“It’s rare for a borough to take such a large-scale approach as we have taken, but we will always deal with this sort of offence.
“I’ve only been in Newham for 15 months, but this was the first operation of this scale in that time.”
The operation was launched after repeated complaints from residents about the levels of anti-social behaviour in the area.
“Drug offences always cause other issues such as anti-social behaviour, because if we have dealing in the open it can lead to things like fighting, arguments over things like turf wars for example,” added Det Chief Insp Matthews.
“It can lead to theft and robberies – not necessarily in the area being supplied – because ultimately people who purchase these drugs have to find the money from elsewhere.
“We will always take note of what our communities are telling us, and we will take positive action in dealing with this sort of crime.”
Although the arrests were all carried out in a small area of the borough, Det Chief Insp Matthews declined to say whether the suspects were members of one specific group.
“Some of them will be known to each other, but we certainly can’t say all 17 are part of a particular gang,” he explained.
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