Over £100m worth of cannabis wiped off the street and hundreds arrested in national police operation

Police carried out over 1,000 search warrants against Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) over the past month – arresting hundreds of people and seized cannabis plants worth between £115m-£130m. Firearms and large amounts of cash were also discovered.

Across the South East alone, 58 warrants were carried out, 11,941 cannabis plants were taken, 43 people were detained, 25 were charged and £15,990 in cash was seized.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and the 42 other forces carried out Operation Mille which included 16 warrants. Over 4320 plants were confiscated – worth a street value of approximately £1.7m – with eight people being detained.

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Detective Chief Superintendent Tim Rowlandson, head of intelligence, tasking and development in Hampshire, said: ‘Over the last month we have been continuing our relentless pursuit of criminals by targeting sophisticated and organised crime groups running cannabis factories within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

‘In one factory alone this week, we uncovered over £400,000 worth of drugs. That’s money, which would otherwise have been used to fund further crime across the two counties.

‘Local officers have been key to identifying potential sites – and engaging with communities afterwards to provide reassurance and gather evidence; Investigation teams have been taking the evidence gathered to pursue prosecutions and uncover more offenders; and yet others have supported with specialist skills.’

DCS Rowlandson added that it was a ‘whole force effort’ and will ‘massively disrupt the ability of these criminals to operate’ in the county. Large scale cannabis cultivations were targeted to cut out a key source of illicit income for organised gangs.

Nationally, 182,422 cannabis plants were captured, along with £636,000 in cash, 26 kilogrammes of cocaine with an estimated value of £1m and 20 firearms. In total, 967 people were arrested for offences such as cannabis cultivation, money laundering and weapons offences.

Hampshire, Thames Valley, Surrey and Sussex police forces co-ordinated themselves alongside the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU). Suspected OCG members were arrested for offences including drug dealing, money laundering and possession of weapons.

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Forces choose to carry out the intense operation in order to quickly taking away a vital revenue stream from gangs, detain those involved, safeguard anyone being exploited, and increase overall intelligence about criminal networks. Steve Jupp, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Serious and Organised Crime, said: ‘We know that organised networks involved in cannabis production are also directly linked to an array of other serious criminality such as class A drug importation, modern slavery and wider violence and exploitation.

‘Cannabis-related crime is often thought to be ‘low level’, however there are clear patterns around the exploitation and violence OCGs are using to protect their enterprises. We also frequently find that cannabis production is just one aspect of their criminal operations and that they are complicit in wider offending which blights our communities.’

Mr Jupp added that the operation was not only able to disrupt the nefarious work carried out by a large number of gangs, but also allowed police forces to gain vital knowledge about them. Anyone who wishes to report drug crime is advised to call 101, submit a report online or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.