POLICE have swooped on a number of homes in the Dearne as part of a three-day operation to tackle crime in the area.
Heroin, cannabis and a substantial quantity of cash were recovered from raids on 20 properties, which began on Wednesday morning and will continue into this afternoon.
“It’s been a successful operation for us,” said Barnsley Chief Inspector Simon Wanless.
“We’ve made a number of arrests and recovered a great deal of class A, B and C drugs, stolen property and cash.”
Operation Dearne saw officers from Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster working together, pooling their efforts and resources to target known criminals.
“Criminals travel and do not operate within set boundaries, so we’re not either,” said Simon.
“We have people from the Barnsley area committing crimes in Rotherham and Doncaster and vice versa. The night before last we had criminals from Humberside travelling to us to commit burglary.
“The point is that criminals don’t think anything of going in to other areas to commit crimes, so we’re going to respond in the same way, pooling all of our officers into a tri-district operation.
“We believe this will help us tackle crime in the Dearne more effectively.”
More than 60 officers executed warrants relating to stolen goods, counterfeit goods and drugs. A number also carried out patrols, including mounted officers, and ANPR operations were in effect.
“We’ve had a strong presence this last three days,” Simon added.
“Our aim is to get officers from these areas working more closely together to put a stop to this criminal activity, as well as offering reassurance to the public.