Police make £3.36m drugs haul in N.I

Police have seized drugs worth £3.36 million in Northern Ireland as part of an operation to fight drug dealing on the country’s streets.

The police operation, named Operation Torus, began on 5 September and ended on 31 October. In this period, police made 674 searches and 586 drug seizures. They arrested 370 people, with 279 of those being charged with an offence or reported to the Public Prosecution Service. Of the drugs seized, cannabis was the most common, with cocaine coming in second. Operation Torus was described as a “great success” by Acting Det. Ch. Supt. Andrea McMullan, who works in the PSNI’s reactive and organised crime branch.

She said that the eight-week operation saw more than £3 million worth of drugs being taken off Northern Ireland’s streets and that the drug dealing at street level has been causing harm to local communities and hurt to families. She said, “We as police will do everything that we can to tackle this issue, but we need to work in partnership with our local communities, and I encourage people to share any information, no matter how small, with us.”

Operation Torus runs twice yearly and its goal is to cause disruption to several organised crime gangs thought to be trading in powerful drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, in Belfast and further afield. Last week, Stormont’s justice committee were informed that more than 100 crime gangs were operating, with drug dealing being one area of their criminal activities.