Dope gangs hit in police raids

Organised crime gangs growing cannabis in Lincolnshire have been successfully targeted disrupted by police.

The Lincolnshire force took part in a nationwide crackdown on illegal cannabis grows by organised crime groups (OCGs), which are linked to further criminal activities in the city and county. 

Police officers executed warrants, made arrests and seized drugs during the crackdown, which ran from February into early March. 

The headline results were:

• five warrants executed – three raid sites had active cannabis grows which were removed and the property made safe, and two of the properties had evidence of being used previously to grow the drugs;
• 374 plants seized;
• bags of suspected drugs seized;
• one suspect arrested and bailed;
• one person charged with being concerned in the production of cannabis and remanded into custody and investigations continue. 

Detective Chief Inspector Gemma Smith said: “Our primary goal is to keep you and your families, your loves ones, and your colleagues safe. There can often be a belief that growing or selling cannabis is inconsequential, however this is recognised as a huge and lucrative business bringing large sums of money to criminal gangs and having a negative impact on local communities. 

"When these OCGs move into our area and set up these grows, they are not thinking about the safety of the property or people living nearby, and the risk that bypassing electrical grid can cause. 

"They’re not thinking about the impact of growing and eventually selling these drugs can have by funding even more criminality, which can often feed into international drugs rings, trafficking, and other exploitation. They’re not thinking about the crime it brings to the doorstep of that property with the potential for violence spilling out in our streets. 

"They just want the money, while we want Lincolnshire to be as inhospitable an environment as possible for this type of crime, and the criminals running these OCGs. 

"The results have been really positive and we will now continue to build strong cases and work on the fresh intelligence we have been able to gather to continue this fight against serious organised crime.”