Sandwell police arrest 18 and seize £420k worth of drugs in week-long crackdown on county lines
Police have seized £20k worth of heroin and cocaine and £400k of cannabis from the streets of Sandwell in just one week.
A total of 18 arrests were also made over drugs related offences and knives and a stun gun were recovered by officers.
The crackdown also led to one young person reported missing from the area being arrested in Warwickshire for possession with intent to supply.
It came as part of a national crackdown on county lines involving West Midlands Police working alongside officers in Staffordshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia in cross-border operations against the drugs supply chains.
The Sandwell teams executed nine drugs warrants during the week, from February 27 to March 5.
There were also high visibility patrols with drugs dogs and the force ran Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) operations looking for people moving drugs by road and worked with British Transport Police and Safer Travel to identify any drugs runners using the rail system or bus networks.
Sargent Dave Rogers, from Sandwell Police, said: "Our teams also reached out to the children themselves with more than 800 youngsters at schools around the borough hearing about the dangers of being drawn into drugs networks.
"And our work here in Sandwell continues this week and every week, to bring down the drugs lines and, alongside partners in local authorities, health and charities, to help divert our young people who are vulnerable to County Lines exploitation away from criminal gangs and on to brighter futures."
