A POLICE patrol swooped on suspected money launderers, making two arrests and confiscating large bundles of cash.

Officers from West Mercia arrested two suspects on the M5 last week on suspicion of 'money laundering', seizing 'criminal cash' in the process.

The stops were part of an ongoing operation to disrupt the flow of drugs and other related criminal activity from big cities like Birmingham into smaller cities, towns and villages, including Worcester, Malvern, Pershore and Evesham.

 

 

A spokesperson for Worcestershire's Operations Patrol Unit, responsible for Roads Policing and armed response vehicles in the county, shared photos from the incident on Twitter.

READ MORE: Burglary raids for guns, cash and jewellery - elderly victims were at home

READ MORE: Worcester sex offender who was on the run in London bound for prison 

"Whilst on Operation Radar patrols last week, we stopped this vehicle at Frankley Services, M5. A search revealed a significant amount of cash, suspected criminal property. Two were arrested on suspicion of money laundering."

Officers across Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire have been taking part in a joint operation to challenge and disrupt County Lines gangs moving drugs into our communities.

Operation Radar is a targeted initiative between local policing areas, force intelligence teams and Operation Policing Units (OPU).

The aim of the operation was and remains, tackling those involved in County Lines and their criminal use of our road network.

Detective Constable Chris Stockton who is the force County Lines Coordinator said last month: “‘County Lines’ is the name given to the process and operation of drugs transported from predominately larger urban areas to smaller towns, often in rural areas, with the ‘line’ referring to the mobile number used to order the drugs. The competition between rival gangs invariably will see innocent people caught up in the challenge for control of the drug dealing.

“County lines drug dealers will often exploit children and younger people by recruiting them to run drugs and cash between urban and county locations and to deal drugs on their behalf. Once recruited into county lines it can be difficult for those being exploited to leave, with fear and threats of violence used to keep them in place.

“Vulnerable adults, such as those dependent on drug use, will also then be targeted and their property taken over by drug dealers in a local area. This a practice known as ‘cuckooing’."