Melton police seize £5,000 worth of drugs in county lines raids

Insp Lindsey Madeley-Harland, who is in charge of policing in the Melton and Rutland area, said the initiative, which was called Operation Abbatoir, saw £3,400 in cash also recovered in a series of raids.

County lines drugs gangs prey on vulnerable people and use their home to supply local people with drugs from other areas of the country.

Talking to Melton borough councillors at a meeting of the scrutiny committee this week, Insp Madeley-Harland said: “We had some significant results with this operation.

"Our officers executed 11 arrest warrants at 10 different addresses.

"Two were charged and have been remanded, five were released under investigation and three were released on police bail.

"We seized some weapons from one address and we also put a property closure order in place with the support of Melton Borough Council.”

The inspector was giving an annual update on crime and disorder in the borough.

She said crime levels were among the lowest in Leicestershire but said the number of offences had gone up in the last seven months compared to the same seven months last year, from 1,908 to 2,262.

In the last 28 days, there have been 10 house burglaries, six break-ins at non-residential properties, nine vehicle thefts and three thefts from a person.

The inspector revealed at the meeting that some of her officers had recently been drafted into Leicester to support police dealing with major incidents of disorder in the east of the city but they were back now.