Police officers from across the north-east have joined forces to smash a drugs ring that has flooded the region with Class A substances.
Specialist officers from Aberdeen, Inverness and Fraserburgh descended on Elgin yesterday to blitz properties involved in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine.
The massive exercise was organised in an effort to tackle a gang masterminded by Merseyside criminals, who have been selling drugs in Moray.
After swooping on several addresses, six men were arrested and will be reported to the procurator fiscal.
Officers also confiscated personal supplies of heroin and cannabis, a “dealers” amount of diazepam and an alarming cache of offensive weapons.
While rifling through Elgin homes in a search for drugs they uncovered machetes, baseball bats and a crossbow.
Chief Inspector Stewart Mackie said the raids targeted top-level dealers and those selling smaller quantities of drugs on their behalf.
He said: “We focused on people who engaged in drug dealing activities, and who facilitate people from other parts of Scotland and the UK coming here to deal drugs.
“Communities across Scotland have organised crime groups working in them and although Moray is a relatively safe place, it’s not immune to that.”
Dozens of officers gathered in Elgin for a morning briefing on the targeted homes, and on the individuals who needed to be approached with caution due to their reputations for violence.
Sergeant Scott Brander organised the early morning raids, and advised officers to tackle certain suspects “robustly”.
The teams arranged themselves into groups and targeted three properties simultaneously at 9am, at Bishopmill, Morriston Road and Mossend Place.
The concentrated effort was made to prevent drug cohorts from alerting one another to the raids so that they could get rid of evidence.
One crew raced to a bungalow on Morriston Road and blasted a front door from its hinges as the occupant frantically twitched at his blinds from inside.
Officers roamed the dimly lit premises, and a drug-sniffing spaniel was brought in to detect any hidden substances.
At around 10am a different crew zoned in on Elgin’s Meadow Crescent, and raided a pair of ground floor flats directly adjacent one another.
They used a battering ram – which officers refer to as “the big red key” – to smash their way into one flat.
Stirred by the commotion, worried neighbours gathered at the top of a communal stairwell.
They said the dramatic scenes were akin to “something from TV”, and added that they had noticed some “shady” individuals frequenting the lower flats.
A 22-year-old man was arrested on a charge of drug possession with intent to sell, and others aged 53, 38, 36, 30, and 29 were apprehended on possession charges.
Inspector Paul McCruden added: “We executed nine drug search warrants, and recovered personal supplies of cannabis and heroin and what we would term as a ‘dealer quantity’ of diazepam.
“Hopefully people in Elgin have seen are doing and recognise that if they tell us people are dealing drugs we will act on that information.”
Individuals responsible for antisocial behaviour and violent crimes were also targeted.
Police uncovered a stash of counterfeit clothing at one address, and one of the properties targeted was found to be obtaining an electric supply illegally.
