28th March, 2024
Specialist Met officers have raided eight properties in West London as part of an ongoing investigation into the sale of cannabis online.
They also seized in excess of £10,000 in cash, as well as drugs estimated to be in excess of £1 million in street value.
The police said as part of the investigation, officers had established that a criminal group was using a website to sell cannabis across the country.
The Met Police said the scale of the operation was believed to be vast – and it was alleged that the criminal network was making up to £500,000 a month from the proceeds of the illegal drugs trade.
According to the police, the arrests come as part of a Met-wide focus on using data and technology to target resources to tackle the issues that matter to London’s communities the most, including drug dealing.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil Reynolds said the police were determined to crackdown on those who brazenly flout the law and sought to make colossal amounts of money from the illegal drugs trade.
Reynolds said these arrests came after a lengthy investigation carried out by a team of dedicated police officers, who have left no stone unturned in their pursuit to dismantle criminal groups operating in London.
Reynold added that drug criminality is often the driving force behind violence and anti-social behaviour across the streets and that it was only right that the police do everything in their power to tackle this type of crime, including online.
Seven men – aged between 20 and 55 – were arrested as part of raids on Wednesday, 27 March across west London, including in Ealing and Hounslow. They remain in custody for questioning.