Cafe among homes and businesses raided in countywide drug crime crackdown

Drugs worth more than £50,000 and £15,000 in cash has been seized by police in a series of warrants at homes and businesses across the county.

Cafes were among those raided, with one worker caught with £1,000 worth of crack cocaine and heroin as he prepared food.

This week officers executed their latest warrant in the Marsh Farm area of Luton under Operation Lightroom, led by Bedfordshire Police's Boson guns and gangs team.

A man in his 30s was arrested and suspected Class A drugs, an extendable baton and around £1,300 cash was seized, along with designer clothing.

It is the latest significant seizure by the Boson team to disrupt drug crime in the county under Operation Lightroom.

Over the past month the team has uncovered three cannabis factories in Houghton Regis and Luton.

Further operations across Bedford and Luton have resulted in the recovery of nearly two kilogrammes of crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis, an imitation firearm, taser and around £15,000 in cash.

A separate operation led by Bedfordshire Police's Community Enforcement Team saw four arrests made as the result of stop and searches, making a total of nine arrests in the Dallow area of Luton.

Almost £1,000 of drugs and cash were seized, while three people identified as vulnerable to cuckooing were safeguarded.

Officers also carried out weapons sweeps in the Dallow area.

Sergeant Ken Foster from Boson said: "Drugs supply exploits those who are vulnerable when they are at the weakest points in their lives and the knock-on effect of society is huge.

"Those who aim to profit on the suffering of those afflicted with addiction, who want to fuel the suffering of society by importing and distributing drugs and who think that drug dealing is a legitimate business with no victims need to seriously consider the wider impact of their illegal actions.

"This includes any businesses or corporate enablers that facilitate these criminal activities. If they continue to 'serve up', it's an inevitability that they will receive a personal visit from Boson."