100 Suspected Dealers Held In Raids
By News Scotland

More than 100 suspected dealers have been arrested in one of Scotland’s biggest drugs operations, prompted by growing public unrest over the scourge of drugs. A series of dawn raids carried out across some of the west of Scotland’s most deprived areas saw more than 500 police officers target 80 houses.

The operation led to the arrest of 101 suspected drug dealers who are facing a total of 863 charges, and the seizure of more than £250,000 worth of drugs and assets.

The success of the operation, say police, is down to a renewed courage among members of the public to report on drug dealers in their area. Treatment workers say the raids, carried out last week and on Tuesday, have cut off the supply to around 1000 class A drug users. There are fears those individuals in towns such as Paisley, Greenock, and Port Glasgow could succumb to overdoses by using stronger drugs, but addiction services are anticipating an upsurge in the number of problem drug users turning to them for help.

Already, some users have told The Herald they are going cold turkey because supplies of heroin in particular have completely dried up.

As part of Operation Triplicate, carried out across Renfrewshire and Inverclyde, more than £110,000 in cash and £154,000 worth of drugs was confiscated, including hauls of 30,000 diazepam tablets and a supply of crack cocaine worth £18,000.

Superintendent Russell Irvine, deputy divisional commander for the area, said: “This has been an ambitious operation, the scale of which has never before been undertaken in Strathclyde.

“The public see we’re taking action against dealers and they’re coming forward in numbers. Hopefully this operation will give more people confidence to report on dealers [via Crimestoppers] and we will be back time and again.”

Renfrewshire Council leader Jim Harkins said: “We have a strong Community Safety Partnership in Renfrewshire and this is a fine example of public agencies working together to tackle serious crime and also support the victims of the crime.”