Teaming up across the South West to seize over £814,000 worth of drugs

Operation Vanquish saw police forces and OPCC's across the South West team up to crackdown on drugs - together they seized over £814,000 worth of illegal substances.

Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson has thanked officers for taking more than £150,000 worth of drugs off Gloucestershire's streets during the week of action.

Across the South West region as a whole, the operation led to:

• 126 arrests
• Over £814,000 worth of drugs seized (including one seizure of three bottles of Methadone, five Valium tablets, 166 MDMA tablets, tobacco and vapes with a value of £500,000)
• Over £95,000 cash seized
• 67 weapons seized and over 200 weapons surrendered by the public
• 135 vulnerable people safeguarded

Operation Vanquish was a great display of partnership working. Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, Avon and Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, their respective Police and Crime Commissioners, British Transport Police, the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SW ROCU), and the charity Crimestoppers all collaborated together to bolster the regions response to drug offences.

This was the seventh round of the operation and it had a focus on addressing the impact drug activity has within our community.

Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson attended a number of operations and activities throughout the intensification week to support officers on the ground who were tackling drug dealers and seizing drugs.

Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson said: "I was again pleased to see the success of the seventh round of the regional anti-drugs operation. It had been thoroughly planned and well executed by our hard working officers. This week of intensification focused on relentlessly pursuing those causing harm to our communities, but it is also about raising awareness and sharing crime prevention messages to steer people away from crime and drugs in the first place.

"I relish the partnership working that this operation always provides. As South West OPCCs and police forces, we come together to show the pursuit of offenders has no borders.

"And we know that drug related crimes are everywhere, not just in city centres. A rural county like Gloucestershire feels the effects of drugs right across it – from the Forest of Dean to the Cotswolds and our towns and cities in between.

"Gloucestershire, and the whole of the South West, is no place for drugs."

Anyone with information about illegal drugs activity should report it to their local police service online or via 101. Always call 999 in an emergency.

Alternatively you can pass information anonymously to the independent crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers. They are available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year on 0800 555 111 or you can use their non-traceable online form. Contact will remain 100% anonymous. Always.

They will never ask for a name or contact details and the phone call or online report will never be traced. If the information supplied leads to an arrest and charge, there could be a cash reward of up to £1,000.