IT’S A crisp and sunny November morning and police officers are outside properties in Haseley Close in Matchborough and Woodfield Close in Abbeydale ready to carry out a drugs raid.
Joining them are Standard reporters Imogen Buller and Lorna Morris who’ve been invited along to learn what a large police operation involves as well as experience first hand the sights, sounds and smells as police crack down on drugs in the town.
The team of officers were briefed on ‘Operation Greencastle’ at around 8am last Friday (November 25) before splitting into two teams with sniffer dogs Charles and Gwen.
In Matchborough officers ran across the car park and using a metal battering ram smashed down the front door of a suspect’s house and stormed into the building.
Inside they seized suspected class A drugs and arrested a 38-year-old man on suspicion of possessing controlled drugs with intent to supply.
Meanwhile in Abbeydale the second team pulled up outside the local club, seeing if they could gain entry without using battering rams, Luckily, they were let in when a delivery arrived and could begin the search quickly.
Once inside, the officers found a double safe with a large amount of cash and lots of handwritten notes inside. The sniffer dog, Gwen, searched the whole building, eventually finding what is believed to be a Class A substance in one of the back rooms of the building.
Search completed, the teams then met up and together searched the Sticky Wicket pub in Matchborough centre.
PC Rich Field who led the investigation said: “Drugs blight our communities and lead to an increase in violent crime, disorder and acquisitive crime.
“A key component is the reduction of supply and demand achieved through the identification and dismantling of trafficking and dealer networks, and the warrants executed were a prime example of this.”
Force Neighborhood Team Inspector Mark Chappel said: “Tackling drug supply in the Redditch community is a huge priority for us and the fact that we made an arrest in this case means we are moving in the right direction.”
Anyone with information about drugs dealers can contact police directly on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
