Class A drugs with a street value up to £50,000 have been taken off the streets of Leeds following a series of early morning raids by West Yorkshire Police.
Officers from Operation Viper and the Leeds District Burglary Team joined forces to target 13 addresses across the North West area of the city in raids that took place across Thursday and Friday of last week.
Five people were arrested during the course of the operation on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, with more than half a kilo of suspected Class A heroin found in a flat within the Gamble Hill Croft complex in Bramley.
Within the property, officers working with a specialised drugs dog, found the class A substance behind a panel in the bathroom whilst smaller amounts were also found within a tin of baby powder.
A 49-year-old man was arrested from the property on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and has since been released on police bail. Two other men, aged 24 and 23, were also arrested on Thursday morning from separate addresses in Pudsey and have been released on bail.
In a raid on Friday morning, 7th March, officers seized a Bentley Continental car from outside a property on Ireland Crescent. The vehicle has been recovered for forensic examination to determine if any offences have been committed in relation to its use or possession.
A 33-year-old man was arrested from the same address with a 24-year-old male arrested from a property at Holtdale Place in Holt Park. Both men have since been released on police bail.
The raids, which were carried out under the Misuse of Drugs Act, formed part of West Yorkshire Police’s Operation Viper, which aims to target the county’s most prolific criminals and drive down crime.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Griffin, from Leeds Community Safety and who led the operation, said: “These arrests and a seizure of this quantity will have a significant impact on the localised drug market and shows the priority and success we have in tackling drugs and organised crime across Leeds.”
