Dyfed-Powys Police alongside other Welsh forces have announced that they have made multiple arrests in a crackdown on County lines drug activity.

Tarian, which is formed of officers from Dyfed-Powys, South Wales and Gwent Police, worked with British Transport Police and other partners “to share intelligence and disrupt county lines criminals”.

This culminated in a County Lines Intensification Week last week (February 27- March 5) where they aimed to “ensure that all possible opportunities to disrupt criminals and safeguard vulnerable people were maximised” – leading to multiple arrests and the seizure of drugs, money and weapons.

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Detective Inspector Richard Weber, from Tarian, said: “The point of these intensification weeks is to heavily disrupt organised crime gangs, whose selfish intentions cause a myriad of mental and physical pain to those exploited into their circles.

“We continue to pursue perpetrators of county lines drugs operations heavily. We also understand the implications on young people who may have been coerced into committing these crimes, and we do all we can to protect them through signposting to support and referring to mechanisms in place.

Over the week, they made 72 arrests with 26 of those made by the  Dyfed-Powys Police. This resulted in four drugs lines being dismantled, £28,890 in cash being seized with over £100,000 worth of drugs seized – including 1kg of heroin

Seizure of a variety of weapons including hammers, knives, machetes, samurai swords and imitation firearms. As well as this, a number of vehicles and mobile phones were also seized.

Police officers made use of a range of resources including automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), knife sweeps, search warrants, covert officers and police dogs.

Police also reported that they have identified 28 vulnerable children and adults and safeguarded them.

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“In addition, we want to raise awareness around county lines and we have worked hard with partners from health, education and housing to those working in hotels, the licensing trade, transport networks and the third to sector to ensure they are able to recognise the signs and symptoms associated with county lines and what to do should they have concerns,” added Detective Inspector Weber.

“We also want to protect our communities and spent time at locations such as boxing clubs and schools to build relationships and inform young people of the risks associated with drugs.”

“We have seen some really positive results through this week, and the work won’t end here to make southern Wales a volatile place for violent criminals.”