Elite unit police are held in drug raid
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Your support makes all the difference.Five police officers, including two serving with the high-powered National Crime Squad, were arrested yesterday for allegedly dealing in drugs.
Five police officers, including two serving with the high-powered National Crime Squad, were arrested yesterday for allegedly dealing in drugs.
The National Crime Squad (NCS) said the officers were among a total of 10 men and women being interviewed by police over the supply and possession of drugs including cannabis and cocaine.
The arrests were made by officers from the NCS at eight addresses in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire yesterday morning. Small quantities of what is believed to be cannabis and cocaine were found at three of the addresses.
The five arrested officers, who all either police constables or sergeants, are from the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire police forces. They include two officers on secondment to the NCS and two who had previously served with the squad.
The five men and five women arrested are aged in their 30s or 40s and have all been arrested in connection with drug dealing in the Derbyshire area.
The squad was set up in 1998 to tackle both national and international organised crime. Its officers have built up a reputation for exposing drug barons and their investigations have secured a number of high-profile convictions.
The NCS has been instrumental in persuading the Government to introduce legislation which enables officers to seize the assets of criminals involved in the drugs trade.
Earlier this month, a drug dealer was forced to hand over more than £400,000 of his personal wealth after NCS officers convinced Liverpool Crown Court that much of his £20m fortune had come from drug dealing.
Bob Packham, the NCS's deputy director-general, said the arrests had followed an "intensive and covert operation", working closely with the deputy chief constable of Derbyshire and with Nottinghamshire Police.
He added that the 10 arrests had been carried out after police had received "certain information".
"This was not the result of an allegation from the public or a formal complaint. It came to notice because of our alertness to any suggestion of misbehaviour by our officers.
"We take this inquiry very seriously indeed and it is being vigorously pursued. Since its inception three years ago the National Crime Squad has developed an extremely high reputation for integrity and professional behaviour, and we aim to make sure it stays that way."
The matter is understood to have been referred to the Police Complaints Authority.
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