Officers hail drugs blitz success

Drug squad officers have swooped on a series of homes

Police have claimed new successes in the war on drugs in central Scotland.

Officers have swooped on nearly 20 homes in the Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire areas in the past week as part of Operation Overlord.

Detectives said six suspects have been arrested and face a total of 65 charges. Drugs with a street value of more than £22,000 have been seized.

Police stressed that in addition to the series of raids, dealers arrested earlier have received long jail terms.

The Central Scotland force said "some of the most prolific dealers" have been locked up for a total of more than 20 years.

Police said successes included:

• A search of a house in Alloa which yielded a drugs cache worth about £20,000. Four people were charged.

• A 9oz block of cannabis found in a house in Grangemouth.

Other drugs found during the clampdown included heroin, ecstasy, diazepam and temazepam. More than £5,000 was also seized by officers.

Detective Chief Inspector David Wilson said: "Our high-profile presence in communities during the past few days should send out a message of reassurance to communities blighted by drugs."

The message is clear: we will be relentless in hounding out the drug dealers Ch Const Andrew Cameron Central Scotland Police

Chief Constable Andrew Cameron added: "We have worked with communities yet again to deliver a hammer-blow to those individuals who think they can live a fancy lifestyle at the expense of, and causing misery to, communities and young people.

"The message is clear: we will be relentless in hounding out the drug dealers.

"And with the support of the community and decent, law-abiding people, we will endeavour to catch these people and put a stop to the menace they cause in society.

"Often the police may not act on information immediately, for a number of reasons, but we guarantee that it will form part of a jigsaw of intelligence we will use to target dealers."