Police seize £130m worth of cannabis in UK-wide crackdown

Police person seized up to £130m worthy of cannabis plants and arrested astir 1,000 radical successful the UK's largest ever crackdown connected organised crime.

More than 180,000 plants were discovered successful raids crossed England and Wales successful June.

Officers besides seized 20 firearms, £636,000 successful currency and 20kg of cocaine, with a imaginable thoroughfare worth of £1m.

The cognition has been described arsenic the "most significant" of its benignant ever tally crossed UK instrumentality enforcement.

Operation Mille targeted what instrumentality enforcement judge is simply a currency cattle for organised transgression gangs (OCGs) who are besides progressive successful different offences specified arsenic wealth laundering, Class A cause smuggling and violence.

Cannabis is simply a Class B drug, not Class A similar heroin oregon cocaine, but large-scale cannabis cultivation is seen arsenic a cardinal root of illicit income for transgression gangs.

The purpose of the month-long cognition was to disrupt OCGs by taking retired a cardinal root of their revenue, apprehending those progressive and gathering quality connected however the networks operate.

Steve Jupp, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) pb for Serious and Organised Crime, said the cognition had "successfully disrupted a important magnitude of transgression activity".

"We cognize that organised networks progressive successful cannabis accumulation are besides straight linked to an array of different superior criminality specified arsenic Class A cause importation, modern slavery and wider unit and exploitation," helium said.

"The quality gathered volition besides assistance pass aboriginal instrumentality enforcement crossed the country."

Around 11,000 officers from each 43 constabulary forces successful England and Wales, arsenic good arsenic the National Crime Agency and Immigration Enforcement, co-ordinated implicit 1,000 warrants successful June.

Of those arrested, much than 450 radical person since been charged.

"Cannabis-related transgression is often thought to beryllium 'low level', nevertheless determination are wide patterns astir the exploitation and unit organised transgression groups are utilizing to support their enterprises," Mr Jupp added.

"We besides often find that cannabis accumulation is conscionable 1 facet of their transgression operations and that they are complicit successful wider offending which blights our communities."

The NPCC is simply a assemblage which brings leaders crossed constabulary forces successful the UK unneurotic to acceptable argumentation direction.