Arrests in Harrogate and Ripon as police target drug dealing

North Yorkshire Police has arrested 27 people during a national week of action to tackle county lines drug dealing.

County lines involves drug dealers from larger cities dealing drugs in smaller towns, often exploiting vulnerable people in the process.

It’s been a constant problem in Harrogate and Ripon with gangs from West Yorkshire targeting the towns.

The national week of action, between October 3 and 9, was coordinated by the National County Lines Coordination Centre.

Harrogate Arrests 

On Monday, officers arrested a 33-year man in Harrogate who was suspected to be delivering drugs from his vehicle. He was found to be in possession of approximately £1,500 worth of cannabis and approximately £500 of cash.

On Friday, officers suspected that a drug deal had just been conducted in a vehicle in the Jennyfields area of Harrogate. One man was arrested, but the passenger managed to flee from the police. After a chase and extensive area search, officers successfully detained and arrested a 48-year-old man on suspicion of supplying a class-A drug – suspected to be heroin.

Later that night officers arrested a 31-year -old man from Manchester on Wetherby Road in Harrogate. He was suspected to be in the area dealing drugs. Officers conducted a search of the man and his vehicle and located approximately 30 individual packets of suspected cocaine.

Officers said across North Yorkshire it had arrested 27 people on suspicion of drugs offences. Two bladed weapons were recovered as well as over £5,000 in cash and £10,000 in what is suspected drugs. It also made 60 welfare visits to vulnerable people

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The force’s operation expedite team, which is responsible for tackling county lines, was on the streets stopping people and vehicles that are linked to the supply of drugs. The force said Harrogate’s Neighbourhood Policing Team as well as licensing officers from North Yorkshire County Council were also involved.

Specialist dogs were used to disrupt the supply of drugs linked to the night time economy in Harrogate and Ripon.

Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Simpson who supported the coordinated the week said:

“Although this is a fantastic set of results from the last seven days, it’s important to stress that this is very much business as usual for North Yorkshire Police.

“Out teams are out and about conducting warrants and intercepting the supply of drugs, week in week out.

“Drug use has serious implications on people’s health and impacts on the quality of life for communities.

“We will not tolerate the use of drugs in our county. I would urge anyone with information about drug dealing in their community to call us on 101, we treat every piece of information as important.”

Look out for the signs: 

Cuckooing is the term given when drug dealers take over the home of a vulnerable person and use it at a base to sell and store drugs, often using violence and intimidation to achieve this.

Cuckooing victims are often drug users themselves, or people who are vulnerable due to a mental or physical disability, their age or lifestyle, such as sex workers and single mothers.

Signs of cuckooing to look out for include

Children are groomed and exploited to deal drugs on behalf of organised criminals. These are the signs to look out for:

Police Advice:

Anyone with concerns about county lines is asked to speak to their local police on 101 or call 999 in an emergency.

If you’d rather stay anonymous you can call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

If you are a young person who is worried about being involved in county lines, or knows someone who is, you can speak to an adult and let them know how you feel.

You can also contact www.fearless.org who allow you to pass on information about crime anonymously.

You can also contact Childline on 0800 1111 – they are a private and confidential service where you can talk to counsellors about anything that is worrying you.

Nine county lines drug arrests in Harrogate in four days

Four days of police action targeting county lines drug dealing in Harrogate has resulted in nine arrests.

As well as the arrests, cocaine and heroin to an estimated street value of £2,600 was recovered. Eight mobile phones, one large hunting knife, £500 cash and other drugs were also retrieved.

In one incident, two men were arrested after being found with 26 bags of suspected MDMA, also known as ecstasy, and cocaine in a pizza box. The 18 and 28 year old have been released while under investigation.

According to a press release by North Yorkshire Police, four county lines operations took place on four days in February and March.

North Yorkshire Police worked alongside the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit to make the arrests.

Funding was given by the Home Office and the National County Lines Coordination Centre.

The operations also revealed a new county line impacting Harrogate.

A total of 76 welfare visits were made to vulnerable people considered to be at risk of county lines exploitation. They were told how to spot the signs of county lines activity as many don’t recognises themselves as victims.

During one operation, officers arrested four teenage boys from Leeds, one aged 16 and three aged 17, who were believed to be staying with a vulnerable person in Harrogate in a practice known as cuckooing.

This is where drug dealers stay in the homes of vulnerable people while selling drugs.

One of the boys was charged with possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply and is awaiting trial. The other three remain on police bail while the investigation continues.

Another man, a 30-year-old from Southampton, was arrested in Harrogate. Officers found 11 wraps of suspected cocaine. He was also released under investigation.

Detective Sergeant Marcus Dawson of Harrogate-based Operation Expedite said:

“The safeguarding of vulnerable people continues to be a key focus of our work and these nationally funded days of action are very welcome, providing a boost to our existing proactive work, and allowing us to protect more people and disrupt more drug dealers.

“They also give us an opportunity the gather more intelligence about drug dealing. Members of the public can also help us protect vulnerable people by calling in information.”

Click here for help if you’re a parent or care and believe a child you care for is involved in drugs and drug dealing.

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Spot the signs of cuckooing and exploitation

Spot the signs that a young person may be exploited by drug dealers

Two men get jail sentences for selling heroin and crack cocaine in Valley Gardens

Two county lines drug dealers have received jail sentences for selling heroin and crack cocaine in Valley Gardens in Harrogate.

York Crown Court heard how Ethan Bodally and Ben Bland, from Leeds and both in their early twenties ,were caught by undercover police officers.

Sentenced at York Crown Court yesterday both men admitted two counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.

Prosecutor James Howard said two plain-clothed police officers spotted the dealers on January 7 last year.

Mr Howard said the area was a “well-known” drug-dealing spot and the officers were first alerted by the “disparity of age between the defendants and suspected drug users”

Police found £85 on Bland which he had hidden in his sock. He was taken into custody and questioned, during which a member of the public rang police and told them that he had seen a man matching his description hiding “a bag in a bush”.

Police retrieved the bag and found heroin and crack cocaine amounting to over £1,000.

Bodally, 22, of Stanks Drive, Seacroft, had eight previous convictions and was currently serving a four-and-half year prison sentence for a previous offence of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs in Scarborough in 2017.

He was on bail for those offences, before they reached court, when he started supplying in Harrogate.

James Littlehales, for Bodally, said his client had been put under “extreme pressure” by drug bosses to meet a £5,000 debt which included a brutal attack that left him with a broken thigh bone.

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Judge Simon Hickey told the defendants:

“Anyone who deals in Class A drugs is potentially dealing out misery, death, degradation and huge economic damage.

“You mix yourself with dangerous drugs and dangerous people and dangerous consequences occur. You, Bodally, had your femur broken, (according to your barrister), and that explains why you found yourself dealing in Harrogate and that’s why you and your co-defendant came from Leeds.”

Jailing Bodally for two years, Mr Hickey said it was the “least sentence” he could impose. The 24-month prison term would mean an extra year on top of his existing sentence.

Bland, 21, of Poole Crescent, Cross Gates, Leeds was given a two-year suspended prison sentence and was ordered to carry out 200 hours’ unpaid work and complete a 19-session thinking-skills programme.