Police point to drugs crackdown amid concern in Evesham

PC Adam Johns said drug dealers were taking risks

More than 20 county lines operations have been shut down across south Worcestershire in a year, police have said amid concerns about Evesham.

Dealing has become "blatant" on the town's streets, according to mayor Alan Booth.

The West Mercia force said in the south of the county recently, officers went into 127 properties in a week where cuckooing was suspected.

The term refers to dealers taking over the homes of vulnerable people.

The force said that in addition, 23 lines in total had been shut down in the last 12 months. A line refers to the phone lines used to run an organised dealing network.

Evesham Safer Neighbourhood Team was said to have played a "significant role" in the efforts, including the force's County Lines Intensification Week when the 127 cuckooing visits took place. Fifty pieces of intelligence were also submitted, the force reported.

• Hear more on BBC Sounds from police on their new efforts to tackle Evesham's drug problems

Five members of a county lines gang operating in Evesham were recently sentenced to a total of 21 years in prison, after investigations by the force.

Another individual was given a seven-year sentence for drug-dealing in the town.

Police said they planned more plain-clothed patrols in the town, along with a public Q&A session.

Evesham's mayor, Alan Booth, said he saw "quite a lot" of drug dealing in the town

The mayor previously said everybody knew dealing was going on because it happened openly in the street, not hidden in alleyways.

Beat officer PC Adam Johns said: "Ultimately [dealers are] running an illegal business. It's an enterprise for them. They've got a product that people want or some people want. They will take risks in order to sell it."

He added: "Dealing with drug dealers is a bit of luck of the draw on the day. What have they got on them at the time you stop them?

"But we just need to be out there. We need to be getting the information and acting upon it and going to these hotspots."

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