Police have arrested seven people suspected of involvement in a London gang running a drug dealing network to Suffolk.
Dawn raids were carried out at six addresses, including Bond Street, Ipswich, and Main Road, Henley, as well as five in the Newham area.
Warrants were executed by Metropolitan Police officers in a series of Trident raids in the early hours of Tuesday.
As part of the operation, one man and two women were arrested by Suffolk Constabulary, while Essex Police arrested one man.
All were aged 19-39 and arrested for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Items seized at the properties included a stolen moped, a 10-inch hunting knife, a quantity of cannabis and a mobile phone believed to have been used for running the ‘county line’ network.
More than 80 officers took part in warrants executed in Fendt Close, E16, Carew Road, N17, Firefly Gardens, E6, Trusedale Road, E6, Daines Close, E12, Bearing Walk, E16, Falcon Avenue, Grays, Bond Street, Ipswich, and Main Road, Ipswich.
The arrests were made as part of an intelligence-led, proactive operation targeting senior members of a Newham gang believed to be responsible for a cocaine and heroin drug-dealing network from London to Suffolk.
Chief Superintendent Richard Tucker, commander of the Met’s North East Command Unit, said the operation was part of a wider, long-term strategy to combat gang-related activities.
He added: “So-called ‘county lines’ drug dealing gangs from London spread crime and misery into towns throughout England.”
Detective Inspector Jim McKee, of the Met’s Trident Central Gangs Unit, said: “Those who run ‘county line’ drug dealing networks are responsible for exporting violence to towns outside of London and we are committed to relentlessly pursuing and disrupting them.
“We believe the disruption of the drug dealing gangs could have a direct impact on reducing the level of violence in London.”
Suffolk police said the raids were not connected to recent acts of violence in Ipswich, which resulted in the death of 17-year-old Tavis Spencer-Aitkens and the serious injury of a man stabbed 10 times in Pauline Street.
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