[08 SEP 00] CRIMES, FIRES & ACCIDENTS
Police Target Drug Dealers in Crime Crackdown

Five people have been arrested by police in Leamington after a drugs raid on a house in Brunswick Street with the seizure of crack cocaine, heroin and a firearm.

Police say it is part of a targeted campaign to cut down on drugs. They blame drug addiction as the main factor behind more than two-thirds of crime.

A police spokeswoman said:

“Police know that at least 70 per cent of general crime – shoplifiting, auto crime and burglaries - is caused by offenders who need to fund a drug habit.

“We are concerned that teenagers are injecting the drug and quickly developing an addictive habit. The objective of this operation is to arrest drug dealers.”

After the latest raid, a woman from Newnham Street, Leamington, was charged with supplying crack cocaine and obstructing police. 

Three men and a woman were arrested and released on police bail.

This follows other operations in South Warwickshire recently as part of the crackdown on drugs-related crime in the Leamington area. They include:

• Two men arrested after the seizure of £20,000 of heroin near Kenilworth in July
• A Birmingham man in Leamington was found with 60 wraps of heroin in July
• The seizure of 25 cannabis plants from Brunswick Street, Leamington, in August.