Police operation targets drug trafficking route

Operation Scorpion aims to deny criminals access to Devon and Cornwall's road network

Devon and Cornwall Police has joined four other police forces in an operation targeting drug dealing.

The force said Operation Scorpion involved traffic officers using intelligence and licence-plate recognition technology to intercept suspected criminals in the process of moving drugs around the country.

It is the ninth time the operation has been carried out in three years and police said it had led to 945 arrests so far.

The aim to deny criminals from accessing Devon and Cornwall's road network.

Traffic officers taking part in Operation Scorpion

Supt Simon Jenkinson, from Devon and Cornwall Police's Alliance Operations, said police hoped to disrupt the supply of drugs on key routes.

"For our force it is mainly up and down the M5 corridor," he said.

"We're looking at putting specialist resources, making best use of our ANPR [Automatic Number Plate Recognition] camera network, local intelligence to identify vehicles and people of interest, stopping them and dealing effectively with the supply of drugs and any other criminality that we might identify as a result."

Street-level dealers

Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez said the community wanted police to tackle drug dealing.

"I've had communities tell me day in and day out that they are sick and tired of drug dealing happening where they live, in the same place, persistently," she said.

"There wasn't a feeling that policing was dealing with it.

"The policing resources tend to focus on the big wigs, trying to catch the big drug dealers.

"Well the things that are causing disruption, anti-social behaviour and fear in our communities are those street-level dealers."