Major drugs raid at 15 city homes

A woman is led away by police during the raids

Police have arrested 22 people in a series of drugs raids across Edinburgh.

More than 200 officers forced entry to 15 locations where people were suspected of being involved in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine.

Lothian and Borders Police said the dawn raids on Tuesday were part of an operation to crack down on some of the city's "busiest drug dealers".

Officers said they found significant drugs quantities at two of the flats as part of a six-month investigation.

Where there is cocaine, eventually to a greater or lesser extent there will be crack cocaine Tom Wood Action On Alcohol and Drugs in Edinburgh

Det Ch Supt Iain Livingstone said: "Tuesday's enforcement is the culmination of an operation which has been many months in the planning from conception to delivery.

"The purpose of our operation was to address the significant levels of street dealing that go on within the city of Edinburgh and tackle dealers who prey on the most vulnerable in our society - the homeless, the vulnerable and other victims.

"We think we've had great success in that regard and the steps we've taken on Tuesday are a very significant development."

Partner organisations including Edinburgh city Council, the procurator fiscal service and Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency assisted the police.

Mr Livingstone, the head of CID at Lothian and Borders Police, said officers had identified more than 400 incidents of street dealing.

Significant recovery

He said there had been a significant recovery of both heroin and crack cocaine.

He added: "The extent of the amount of crack cocaine was interesting and noteworthy to the intelligence assessment that we had."

Tom Wood, chairman of Action On Alcohol and Drugs in Edinburgh, said: "Where there is cocaine, eventually to a greater or lesser extent there will be crack cocaine.

"This presents us with a whole range of new challenges both in enforcement and in the treatment and rehabilitation side as well."

Edinburgh council leader Ewan Aitken said the incidence of crack cocaine was "particularly worrying".

He said: "One of the consequences of drug activity is that others around these families suffer and suffer a great deal and particularly the children."