The Met continues to target drug dealers, responding to community concerns and preventing them reaching the streets of London.
Early this morning (Wednesday, 20 March) Met officers in Hillingdon arrested a 29-year-old man and seized thousands of pounds worth of crack cocaine and heroin.
Residents in the North West London borough had expressed concerns about drug dealing in the area, with local people sharing stories about violence and anti-social behaviour which is often related to drug crime.
The man arrested this morning is allegedly part of a network which distributes drugs to over 100 people in west London.
This arrest is part of a bigger strategy in the Met to community crime fight and tackle drug criminality, using precision policing and insight gathered from data to target resources to respond to the issues that matter to communities most.
Detective Chief Inspector Erin Kerr, whose team are leading the investigation, said: “Drugs ruin lives – not only feeding addiction, but the criminality associated with drug dealing is far reaching and leads to anti-social behaviour and violence.
“The role of drug dealers should not be underestimated as their actions have a ripple effect, impacting communities like Hillingdon and across London as a whole.
“We will continue to be relentless in our pursuit of organised crime groups who are intent on profiting from the illegal drugs trade, so we can make the capital safer.”
This investigation falls under the Met’s Operation Yamata where specialist teams are focused on taking sophisticated drug dealing groups off London’s streets. This means dismantling drug supply networks across the city and pursuing those who operate them. Their tactics utilise a precise data-led approach to identify and locate the controllers of these drug networks. Since April 2022, the team leading Operation Yamata have conducted 370 raids.
The man arrested this morning was arrested on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs. He remains in custody for questioning.
