Police in Angus delivered the latest hammer blow in the fight against illegal drugs.
A series of raids took place across the county under Operation Bellewood to keep up the momentum of an all-out assault on dealers which has already resulted in jail sentences for key figures in the local drugs scene.
Forfar, Kirriemuir and Arbroath were all hit in a wave of two operations from mid-morning as around 30 officers swamped target houses in the three towns.
The operation was led by the Tayside division community safety team and included the involvement of CID and operational support officers.
Drugs were seized in the raids and a number of persons detained during the period of intense activity.
In Forfar, The Courier was present as a team swooped on a first-floor flat in Glenmoy Terrace where officers smashed in the door of a property containing two women and a man.
A full search of the flat was subsequently carried out, and it is understood suspicious substances and drug-related materials were found at the scene.
Bellewood is the third major tactical swoop of this kind, which began with Operation Shrug last October and was followed up by Operation Trillium.
Inspector Hamish Gray of Police Scotland Tayside division said the raids were aimed at targeting those who were attempting to fill the void left by dealers taken off the streets through the success of the earlier initiatives.
“This is the next phase of an operation which began some time ago which has already resulted in the recovery of a significant quantity of controlled drug and the arrest, conviction and imprisonment of several individuals.
“This next phase is to target those individuals who would seek to fill the void left by the removal from Arbroath and other towns of those dealers who have already been detected as a result of that initial activity.
“There’s been several weeks of concentrated effort in the gaining of intelligence in the supply of drugs, much of which has come from members of the public,” added Inspector Gray.
“We’ve identified several new targets_those that might aspire to become the new dealer and we have successfully craved a number of search warrants which we will be executing today.”
“This operation seeks to send a message to anyone that is wishing to deal drugs that they won’t be tolerated and that they have no place in our decent community.
“In effect we are telling them; beware, take notice and watch out, because we are coming to get you,” said the Inspector.
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