A RECENT County Lines Intensification Week provided police forces across the UK with a chance to show off the wealth of work underway to tackle drug dealing gangs.
An Police spokesperson said: ‘At Essex Police, we know this work is 24/7, thanks to our dedicated Serious Violence Unit (SVU).
The SVU hosts our Operation Raptor and Orochi teams. They relentlessly target the county lines gangs linked to serious violence and protect the vulnerable people they exploit.
Throughout the week, they raided properties linked to drug dealing, arresting more than a dozen suspects, seizing drugs and cash, and protecting exploited victims.
During one successful operation, officers executed three simultaneous warrants within a tower block in Grays.
Three arrests were made, with cocaine, cannabis, cash and phones seized.
The numbers speak for themselves this year.
So far in 2025, our SVU has seen:
265 people arrested and 201 charged.
87 drug lines dismantled.
More than 21kg of various drugs seized.
72 weapons seized.
More than £272,000 in cash seized.
The work of Operation Raptor and the wider SVU isn’t only about enforcement.
Their work has also seen 138 vulnerable or exploited people safeguarded this year alone.
In one example, County Lines Intensification Week saw the teams reach the culmination of a near month-long investigation, which began after a 17-year-old boy visited Chelmsford Police Station.
He told officers he and his family were under threat from a London-based gang, adding he had been coerced into selling cocaine and cannabis for almost two years.
Steps were taken to safeguard him and his family, with weeks of investigation identifying three key suspects.
Warrants were secured for addresses linked to the suspects, who were arrested and charged both in relation to the alleged exploitation and the drug supply.
As part of wider work, our safeguarding teams, alongside Essex County Council colleagues, also attended hotels and gyms in the Colchester and Basildon areas.
Hotels and gyms are known areas where criminal gangs will look to meet and exploit young people without raising suspicion, or for use stashing or handing over drugs.
In total, 11 hotels and four gyms were visited, with advice and literature passed on to staff, alongside an offer of a training package.
“This will help staff in recognising some key signs of exploitation or suspicious activity”.
Detective Chief Inspector Neal Miller, of our SVU, said:
“This is largely business as usual for us, as the figures show.
“But County Lines Intensification Week gives us another chance to show the public the benefits of this work.
“I’m confident we’re directing our time and energy where it is needed – of the 265 people arrested by my teams so far this year, 75% were charged and remanded in custody ahead of their court cases.
“Only 13 faced no further action, just shy of 5% of those we arrested.
“This tells us we’re building comprehensive, watertight cases against criminals engaged in county lines drug supply.
“The vast majority of those we see charged and convicted are also linked to violent offending in some form.
“This illustrates a wider point – the work we do brings down knife crime and limits disorder on the streets of Essex.
“Following County Lines Intensification Week, my message goes out to the public – please keep talking to us.
“Much of the work we do is supported greatly by the information we receive from you.
“Keep telling us about the suspicious activity you see.
“If you report drug dealing in your neighbourhood, you may not see an immediate police response.
“Your reports are instead used to either build a picture of where problems are arising, or to help us build our cases against known offenders.”
Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said:
“The county lines drug trade shatters lives, blights communities and exploits the most vulnerable people.
“Working with our communities, maintaining their trust and confidence to use stop and search effectively and building on the success of the Violence and Vulnerability Partnerships’ public health approach to addressing serious violence, we have achieved great success. Since 2019 there has been a 24% reduction in knife crime, with hospitals reporting a reduction of more than 50% in knife harm incidents in the same time.
“The results from County Lines Intensification Week are encouraging and together with our partners, we will keep up our targeted approach of investing in activity proven to work and early intervention to help those at risk.”
