Police have made three “significant” arrests in a crackdown on county lines drug dealing during a new “holistic” approach to raids across Aberdeen.
The Press and Journal was given exclusive access to one of the largest anti-drugs operations ever to be seen in the city, which unfolded earlier this week.
Officers forced their way into 18 properties and seized “dealer quantities” of heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine and cannabis – worth an estimated street value of £22,960.
A total of £11,000 in cash was also recovered and a number of individuals were charged, Police Scotland has said.
But Operation Protector, a new initiative in Aberdeen, also focused on giving immediate help to the city’s most vulnerable people who are at risk of drug-related harm.
Superintendent David Howieson said: “Operation Protector recognises that the harm caused by the supply of controlled drugs cannot be tackled by conventional policing alone.
“Traditional police tactics focused on the seizure of drugs and arresting those who were responsible for their distribution but Operation Protector makes sure that those who need support can get it in a time of crisis.
“What we are trying to do using traditional police tactics is create a safe space for our partners to come in and engage with those who are vulnerable at the time of highest risk and make sure that there’s a pathway into support for them.”
As enforcement teams carried out search warrants, support workers talked with the people found at the addresses.
The residents were offered access to help with housing issues, the cost of living and substance addiction.
A control room, which operated from Tillydrone Campus, coordinated support services in real-time – dispatching them to wherever they were needed on the day.
The hub was staffed by personnel that included a social worker and housing officer from Aberdeen City Council.
In one case, a man who was found to be gravely ill was arranged an urgent GP appointment that same day.
And a woman who asked for help to kick her heroin habit was provided with a same-day prescription of methadone, which helps to reduce withdrawal symptoms and stop cravings.
Over two days of action on Wednesday and Thursday, large teams of plainclothed officers and others dressed in riot gear descended onto 18 properties.
They included homes at Bloomfield Road, Catherine Street, Froghall Avenue, Granton Place, Hutcheon Court, Nelson Street, Powis Place, Smithfield Gardens, and Urquhart Road.
Police intelligence had linked the addresses with alleged drug dealing and the occupants were suspected of exploiting the vulnerabilities and dependencies of their neighbours and others elsewhere in the community.
After battering rams were used to break through the front doors, support workers began their work.
Staff from social care provider Turning Point Scotland provided “a number of people” with the life-saving medicine Naloxone, which can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose.
‘Significant’ arrests
The scale of the enforcement action across the city was made possible using resources from the British Transport Police (BTP).
It deployed officers from as far away as London and Merseyside onto trains between Aberdeen and Stonehaven – a route frequented by drug traffickers.
BTP sniffer dogs patrolled Aberdeen train station and the bus station where a number of people were stopped, searched and caught with drugs.
The specialist national constabulary searched a total of 143 trains and 33 buses.
A 22-year-old man was arrested on an outstanding warrant and a 19-year-old man was arrested and charged with possession of an offensive weapon, after being stopped by officers at Aberdeen railway station.
Three “significant” arrests were made concerning individuals suspected to be involved in county lines – networks of cross-country drug runners that are often children or vulnerable people who are coerced into working for organised crime groups.
‘Exploited’ teenage boy safeguarded
In a major success, a teenage boy who was suspected of being exploited through county lines was intercepted and safeguarded.
Detective Inspector Brian Buddo from British Transport Police’s county lines taskforce said: “The arrests and seizures made should serve as a stark warning to county lines offenders – our plain clothes teams will catch you and put you before the courts.
“As well as intercepting harmful drugs before they reach our communities, a key priority of ours is to identify and safeguard children exploited in this crime type to courier drugs via the railway.
“Across the days of intensive activity spanning the entirety of England and Scotland, we made a number of crucial safeguarding interventions.”
Community support
Separate from police activities, 136 outreach visits were made to homes where support for substance dependency, housing issues and cost of living was provided.
Health and social care staff in a mobile information bus situated at different locations in Aberdeen, including the train station, successfully engaged with 100 people.
They raised awareness of exploitation, county lines crime and discussed the stigma attached to drug dependency.
More than 2,000 addresses were visited by community safety workers, who spoke with residents and left leaflets about drug and anti-social behaviour-related harm.
Operation Protector isn’t new to the north-east of Scotland where it has been active for the past 12 months across Aberdeenshire and Moray.
Supporters of the initiative, who’ve witnessed its successes across the north-east, hope the fresh approach will be adopted across the whole of Scotland.
It could be rolled out to Dundee and Inverness in the near future.
Superintendent Howieson said he believes that Operation Protector could also reduce the level of re-offending.
Days of action to become ‘regular occurrence’
“We are often seeing the same people coming into conflict with the law over and over again because they’re in a spiral of addiction,” he said.
“This gives us an opportunity with our partners to make an intervention, have an impact on that person’s life and hopefully improve their life prospects.
“We will certainly see repeats of the days of action that we’ve seen in Aberdeen over the last couple of days.
“I would like to think that this type of action will become a regular occurrence and this holistic approach will become the norm.”
Other organisations involved in the operation across Aberdeen included the charities Alcohol and Drugs Action and Action for Children.