Nine people have been arrested following dawn warrants across the country – including one in Margate- as part of ongoing enquiries into the importation of drugs.
Detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate are leading the investigation, which also concerns the national distribution of class A drugs, believed to have been committed between March 2020 and December 2021.
Today (October 18) a series of planned searches took place during the early hours at properties in Westbrook Avenue, Margate and Orpington, Sunderland, and Stockton-on-Tees. They were carried out with the assistance of other forces across the country.
In total nine people across those areas were arrested on suspicion of money laundering and conspiracy to supply and import class A drugs. Officers seized cash, phones, vehicles, and high-value items such as Rolex watches during the searches.
Those arrested were:
- A 36-year-old man during a search warrant in Westbrook Avenue, Margate
- A 31-year-old man during a search warrant in Berrylands, Orpington
- A 49-year-old man during a search warrant in Ravenna Road, Sunderland
- A 41-year-old man during a search warrant in Meadow Court, Stockton-on-Tees
- A 40-year-old woman during a search warrant in Broadwater Gardens, Orpington.
Further arrests
Two men aged 33, another aged 30, and a fourth man, aged 35, were also arrested and interviewed in connection with this investigation. They remain in prison where they are already serving sentences for unrelated offences.
All those taken into custody remain there whilst enquiries are ongoing.
