More than £10 million worth of drugs seized by West Midlands Police in roads crackdown
Police seized more than £10 million worth of drugs and suspected 'dirty money' in just 12 months as part of a crackdown on criminals using roads to hide their crimes.
West Midlands Police is continuing to crack down on crooks who attempt to use the region's roads as escape routes to conceal their illegal activities.
Officers from the force's roads policing teams seized criminal assets worth more than £26 million after stopping vehicles during the last financial year.
It included £9.3 million worth of drugs, £1.7 million in cash and scores of stolen cars – as 2,630 suspects were arrested for offences ranging from theft to possession with intent to supply controlled drugs.
Police also recovered 154 weapons from vehicles after acting on intelligence and monitoring suspicious behaviour.
Offices from the force also work alongside organisations including the National Crime Agency, HM Revenue and Customs and West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) in their drive to catch criminals across the region.
They say this means ensuring the roads aren't easy get-aways for suspected organised crime groups, involved in the likes of County Lines and car burglary rings.
Superintendent Dave Twyford, from West Midlands Roads Policing, said: "Our roads are no hiding places for criminals as we've shown by this action.
"We routinely patrol our key road links and we've managed to seize a large amount of drugs, recover stolen cars and money believed to be linked to criminality.
"We'll continue to monitor routes and act on intelligence or suspicious activity to ensure our roads are no easy get-away routes."
