A former superintendent of this parish tells the story of when he sent Christmas cards to all the ne’er do wells in the county with a message along the lines of “Make the most of it, we’re coming for you”. Well, quite a lot of them will be spending Christmas behind bars after recent police moves against the illegal drugs trade.

Operation Vanquish – some call it Operation Scorpion - is a well-established programme of regionally co-ordinated and focused initiatives, aimed at making the South West a hostile environment for those who deal drugs, either directly or indirectly. It harnesses the collective strength of the South West’s police forces against groups engaged in what has become known as ‘county lines’ activity, where drugs are pedalled across county borders. And the results are encouraging.

This year, there have been more than 150 arrests, drugs with a street value of more than £150,000 have been seized, more than a quarter of a million pounds in cash recovered and 135 people, innocently caught-up in this evil trade, brought to safety – including 32 children. And that number is significant as the operation had a particular focus on child criminal exploitation, where criminals groom and exploit young people into carrying out crimes on their behalf.

Added to that, since the first Operation Vanquish in 2022, there have been well over 1,000 arrests, around £1.5 million in cash recovered and huge quantities of crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis seized, together with a number of weapons.

Each phase has involved all the region’s police forces of Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, supported by the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, its five Police and Crime Commissioners, the British Transport Police and the independent charity Crimestoppers.

The results from the latest week's regional activity of arrests and drugs seizures show that we continue to be effective in dismantling organised criminal gangs, removing illegal substances from our neighbourhoods and arresting those who deal them.  But our work does not stop there.

We know that county lines, involving criminals who supply and distribute illegal drugs across our borders, creating complex networks of drugs lines around the region, will continue. And in response, we will continue to take a strong and robust stance against exploitative criminality. The perpetrators must know the South West is no place for drugs. Or, as that superintendent said, “We’re coming for you”.