Seventeen arrested as Cleveland Police raid Teesside homes in Operation Artemis crackdown

Cleveland Police have arrested 17 people in a series of early-morning raids across Teesside as part of Operation Artemis, a crackdown on drug dealing and organised crime around Middlesbrough.

Officers raided properties in Redcar and the South Bank and Grangetown areas of Middlesbrough on Monday, executing four drugs warrants and arresting outstanding suspects, the force said on Monday afternoon (Messenger Newspapers). The arrests were for offences including drug supply and theft of a motor vehicle.

Seizures included suspected class A and class C drugs, cash, a knife, a knuckle duster and a baton, an illegal e-bike, an electric scooter, an electric-assisted pedal cycle known as a “revvi”, and a wacker plate construction tool believed to be stolen.

At one address in Birchington Avenue, Grangetown, officers arrested four people — three men aged 37, 43 and 60 and a 58-year-old woman — on suspicion of drugs-supply offences. Suspected class A drugs and cash were recovered at the address, and a dog believed to be a banned breed was seized.

At another address in Moorbeck Way, Ormesby, officers recovered a knife, a baton and a knuckle duster along with suspected class C drugs.

The area has seen increased police activity since a crash on the A66 on 22 August in which Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38, were killed when a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way struck their marked armed-response vehicle. The five young men in the Passat also died (BritainPost).

Sources

• https://www.perspectivemedia.com/police-launch-early-morning-raids-in-organised-crime-crackdown-in-teesside
• https://www.messengernewspapers.co.uk/news/national/26569088.police-launch-early-morning-raids-organised-crime-crackdown-teesside/
• https://britainpost.com/news/seventeen-arrested-in-teesside-police-raids