Operation Muswell
Police in Bolton have today arrested 15 people in connection with drug dealing in the borough.
This morning’s warrants, which targeted those suspected of selling Class A drugs in the town centre at night time, follow months of intelligence gathering and planning by police in Bolton.
More than 20 raids were carried out in the early hours of Thursday 10 September 2015, in areas across Bolton including Halliwell, Breightmet and Stoneclough, organised by officers from Bolton’s Operation Challenger team, which is a specialist team targeting those involved in organised criminal activity.
More than 200 officers from various units across GMP were involved in the raids, in which 13 men have been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of drugs. A man and a woman were also arrested on suspicion of possession of cannabis. Another man was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a police officer.
They have been taken into police custody and will be questioned by detectives later today.
Quantities of cannabis and cocaine were recovered from several addresses and a firearm was seized from a property in Halliwell.
Superintendent Andrea Jones from GMP’s Bolton division said: “This morning’s arrests are the result of the community standing shoulder to shoulder with the police to take a strong stance against those involved in drug related activity in Bolton.
“The warrants carried out today are just the first phase of this operation, which will now see us working with local partner agencies including housing, licensing, revenue and customs and other departments to see if people are in breach of local authority housing agreements, benefit fraud, business licenses etc.
“The work of organised crime groups is constantly changing in their attempt to stay ahead of the police, and Operation Challenger sees GMP working together with other agencies to tackle serious and organised crime, so that all aspect of criminals’ lives are targeted, making it much harder for organised crime groups to operate.
“We cannot do this alone though and we need the public’s support to continue to provide us with information about illegal activity in their neighbourhood. I would like to thank our communities across Bolton for their support so far and assure people that this is not just a one off in tackling those blighting our night time economy in the town centre and surrounding areas.”
Programme Challenger was launched in Greater Manchester in 2012 and has become internationally recognised as a good model of effective organised crime policing. The operation has now been launched in Bolton and through collaboration with partner agencies and the general public, Challenger uses various intelligence-led methods to disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups across Bolton and Greater Manchester.
Anyone with information that they wish to pass to the Operation Challenger team in Bolton is asked to contact police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously with information on 0800 555 111.
Operation Muswell
Police in Bolton have today arrested 15 people in connection with drug dealing in the borough.
This morning’s warrants, which targeted those suspected of selling Class A drugs in the town centre at night time, follow months of intelligence gathering and planning by police in Bolton.
More than 20 raids were carried out in the early hours of Thursday 10 September 2015, in areas across Bolton including Halliwell, Breightmet and Stoneclough, organised by officers from Bolton’s Operation Challenger team, which is a specialist team targeting those involved in organised criminal activity.
More than 200 officers from various units across GMP were involved in the raids, in which 13 men have been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of drugs. A man and a woman were also arrested on suspicion of possession of cannabis. Another man was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a police officer.
They have been taken into police custody and will be questioned by detectives later today.
Quantities of cannabis and cocaine were recovered from several addresses and a firearm was seized from a property in Halliwell.
Superintendent Andrea Jones from GMP’s Bolton division said: “This morning’s arrests are the result of the community standing shoulder to shoulder with the police to take a strong stance against those involved in drug related activity in Bolton.
“The warrants carried out today are just the first phase of this operation, which will now see us working with local partner agencies including housing, licensing, revenue and customs and other departments to see if people are in breach of local authority housing agreements, benefit fraud, business licenses etc.
“The work of organised crime groups is constantly changing in their attempt to stay ahead of the police, and Operation Challenger sees GMP working together with other agencies to tackle serious and organised crime, so that all aspect of criminals’ lives are targeted, making it much harder for organised crime groups to operate.
“We cannot do this alone though and we need the public’s support to continue to provide us with information about illegal activity in their neighbourhood. I would like to thank our communities across Bolton for their support so far and assure people that this is not just a one off in tackling those blighting our night time economy in the town centre and surrounding areas.”
Programme Challenger was launched in Greater Manchester in 2012 and has become internationally recognised as a good model of effective organised crime policing. The operation has now been launched in Bolton and through collaboration with partner agencies and the general public, Challenger uses various intelligence-led methods to disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups across Bolton and Greater Manchester.
Anyone with information that they wish to pass to the Operation Challenger team in Bolton is asked to contact police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously with information on 0800 555 111.