Nine people have been arrested following dawn raids in Kent and across the country as part of ongoing enquiries into the importation of drugs.
Detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate are leading the investigation, which also concerns the national distribution of class A drugs, believed to have been committed between March 2020 and December 2021.
On Wednesday 18 October 2023 a series of planned searches took place during the early hours at properties in Margate, Orpington, Sunderland, and Stockton-on-Tees. They were carried out with the assistance of other forces across the country.
Cash and drugs seized
In total nine people were arrested on suspicion of money laundering and conspiracy to supply and import class A drugs. Officers seized cash, phones, vehicles, and high-value items such as Rolex watches during the searches.
Those arrested were:
- A 31-year-old man during a search warrant in Orpington
- A 36-year-old man during a search warrant in Margate
- A 49-year-old man during a search warrant in Sunderland
- A 41-year-old man during a search warrant in Stockton-on-Tees
- A 40-year-old woman during a search warrant in Orpington.
Further arrests
Two men aged 33, another aged 30, and a fourth man, aged 35, were also arrested and interviewed in connection with this investigation. They remain in prison where they are already serving sentences for unrelated offences.
All those taken into custody remain there while enquiries are ongoing.