Officers have seized over £2m of illegal drugs and a variety of weapons including guns, machetes, and medieval flails after busting more than 50 cannabis farms.
Drugs that would have sold for between £2m-3m were found in properties across East Lancashire after a month-long operation against organised crime groups. Criminals targeted included those who used violence and weapons to "tax" rival gangs, stealing their cannabis plants for themselves.
As Lancs Live reported, raids took place across Blackburn, Darwen, Burnley, Accrington, and Haslingden, with officers also raiding properties in Clayton-le-Moors, Church, Clitheroe, Brierfield, Nelson, and Colne. In one incident, police chased four people involved in a what they believe was one of the drugs taxing events, arresting them in Rishton and recovering a machete.
READ MORE:
Thirteen people were arrested across Burnley and Pendle as part of Operation Alberta, a branch of a bigger operation, nicknamed Coolant, which targets those linked to suspected drugs taxings. Officers also seized drugs, weapons, cash and phones during their work, which has seen 14 people charged so far.
According to detectives, Operation Coolant has seen officers disrupting OCG activity throughout the east of the county by acting on intelligence to target properties and individuals linked to cannabis cultivation and taxings. More than 50 cannabis farms were located, raided and dismantled following a series of raids during March.
DCI Tim Brown, of East Division, said: “Fundamentally, this operation is about preventing the violence that is brought about by the existence of cannabis grows. Targeting the grows is not just about targeting those who are responsible for this type of organised criminality, but equally disrupting those who would tax them using violence and weapons. Put simply, if there are no cannabis grows then there can be no violence associated with them.
“I know people have differing views on cannabis cultivation, however I want to be clear that these grows are strongly linked to organised crime and in turn exploitation, human trafficking, violence and Class A drugs supply.
“East Lancashire is not and should not be seen as a safe place to operate for criminal gangs. Op Coolant is very much an ongoing operation and with it we will continue to relentlessly pursue offenders and protect our communities.
"Report any suspicious activity to us by emailing forcecontrolroom@lancashire.police.uk or by calling 101, confident that we will act on the information provided."
