82 held and £96,000 cash seized in police clampdown

WEALTHY drug dealers across Kirklees have been hit where it hurts the most – in their pockets.

A total of 82 arrests have been made throughout the Kirklees area during a two-week operation targeting organised criminals involved in the supply of Class A drugs.

Operation Greystoke, which began on March 1 has seen over 100 officers undertake a series of dawn raids at various addresses.

Offences covered included Class A drug dealing, handling stolen property, money laundering, robbery and burglary.

A majority of those arrested have so far been charged to appear at court.

During the clampdown, heroin, cocaine and cannabis with an estimated street value of over 75,000 was seized.

And 96,000 in cash has also been seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Nine cars – including a Range Rover – valued at 100,000 have been recovered by officers. The cars are believed to have been stolen during burglaries in Kirklees, Leeds and Bradford. A handgun was also seized.

A police spokesman said: “This is the third phase of the operation in Kirklees which has now seen a total of 166 arrests being made.

“The first phase started on November 30 2009 and the second phase started on January 25, both for a week.”

Kirklees Detective Chief Inspector Phil Benson said: “The sheer scale of this operation shows the commitment we have to tackle criminals in Kirklees head on.

“Eighty-two of these suspects have had their collars well and truly felt over the past two weeks and as a result we have been able to detect over 700 recorded crimes.

“A further positive is that we have hit them hard in the pocket by relieving them of around 200,000 in cash and goods. This is cash we will be able to plough back into further police operations into organised crime and give back to community projects as we have done in the past.

“This has been a hugely successful operation and is already having a beneficial affect as crime levels over the past two weeks, particularly around house burglary which has fallen. The people of Kirklees can be confident that the pursuit of criminals gaining benefit from acquisitive and drug crime will be relentless.”

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