44 Arrested, 33 County Lines Dismantled In Biggest Ever Cambs Drugs Operation

Forty-four people have been arrested as part of the biggest operation Cambridgeshire has ever seen to tackle exploitation and illegal drugs.

Operation Hypernova was launched by Cambridgeshire Police in a bid to make the county hostile towards county lines drug dealers and prevent further exploitation of young and vulnerable people and reduce serious street-based violence.

This is the biggest operation of its kind ever seen in the county which has so far resulted in 31 people being charged with 139 drug and human trafficking offences.

Officers carried out more than 15 dawn raids over eight days across Cambridge, Peterborough, Ramsey, March, Yaxley, Haverhill, Luton and London following weeks of intelligence gathering into those bringing class A drugs into Cambridgeshire and exploiting vulnerable people.

Thirty county lines have been dismantled with crack cocaine, cocaine, heroin and cannabis worth more than £600,000 seized along with hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash and assets including vehicles, jewellery and clothing.

Several weapons including push daggers and knives have also been seized.

The proactive work was carried out with support from the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police and the Eastern Regional Specialist Operation Unit to identify those individuals posing the greatest threat to the community.

Assistant Chief Constable, Vicki Evans, said: “This operation has focused on those people who come into our county and exploit vulnerable people, be they drug users or vulnerable children and encourage them into selling or using drugs.

“It is our role as police officers to protect the vulnerable people in our communities and make our county a hostile place where criminals find it exceptionally difficult to peddle their business across our towns and cities.

“We hope this operation gives reassurance to our communities that if you give us information about people you think are dealing drugs or exploiting others, we will take it seriously and whilst you may not always see the results straight away, rest assured that we are always working in the background and at the right time we will strike and make that enforcement action.”

Detective Chief Inspector Chris O’Brien, from Cambridgeshire’s Intelligence and Specialist Crime Department, said: “We are working harder than ever to crack down on county lines, which bring misery to our communities in the form of exploitation, drug dealing and violence.

“This operation demonstrates our commitment to tackling county lines is in equal parts about safeguarding victims, shutting down the line and targeting line holders.

“During this operation we have identified people from across the country who are causing the most harm to people in Cambridgeshire. It has resulted in us dismantling 33 active drug lines into Cambridgeshire, putting 31 people before the courts, safeguarding people and reducing the impact of knife crime and serious street-based violence to make Cambridgeshire a safer place to live and work.”