Ten held in drugs inquiry

Police seized cash and documents from 17 addresses

Ten people have been arrested by detectives investigating an alleged large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering operation.

Six people were held after early morning raids in Staffordshire on Friday.

It followed the arrests of three men and a woman in Liverpool and Greater Manchester on Thursday night.

Seventeen premises were searched in all by officers from the Manchester branch of the National Crime Squad.

Documents and money were seized as part of the investigation.

Dawn raids

A 31-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman from Wigan were arrested on Thursday night in Liverpool.

A 27-year-old man and a 32-year-old man from Leigh and Pemberton - both Greater Manchester - were also arrested at their homes on the same night.

Officers swooped on addresses in Tunstall, Harriseahead and Turnhurst, Staffordshire, on Friday morning.

Three men - two aged 34 and a third aged 26 - were arrested on suspicion of money laundering and drug trafficking.

Three other men - aged 34, 26, and 23 - were arrested in Tunstall, Turnhurst and Birches Head, Staffordshire, on suspicion of drug trafficking.

All 10 were being questioned on Friday.