Sheffield criminals suffer rude awakening during huge early-morning police raids

Some criminals got a rude awakening this morning as police smashed doors in, arrested suspects and searched their houses in a series of high profile raids designed to warn that drug dealing and violence will not be tolerated in Sheffield.

More than 100 officers took part in executing 31 warrants on people alleged to have all been involved in drugs Class A supply and a turf war among drug gangs which has seen an upsurge in stabbings and shootings.

County lines drug dealing sees gangs systematically move vulnerable adults and children between counties, and urban and rural areas, as dealers work to widen their criminal network and supply to new markets.

This highly visibly, high impact activity will span two days in total (Wednesday and Thursday) and is the culmination of a long-running operation by the force’s Armed Crime Team which began in autumn 2020.

Over one hundred police officers from teams across the force are being deployed across the city, with partners including the Home Office, National Crime Agency (NCA), Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) and the National County Lines Coordination Centre

Teams took part in warrants, arrest attempts, open land searches, and engagement activity with affected communities.

The Armed Crime Team’s senior investigating officer, DCI Paul Murphy, said the investigation has taken six months of hard work by detectives in Sheffield.

He said: “It has been the result of the upsurge in firearms discharges across the city and the violence we have seen sadly in more recent months.

“As a result of that the team have worked long and hard behind the scenes and have identified that a lot of the violence and discharges is the result of the drug gangs and the illegal supply of class As.

He said the investigation established there are a significant number of drug dealing lines generally around the Abbeydale corridor of the city.

“That has resulted in those gangs falling out with each other in the lucrative trade of class A drugs,” he said.

“They have been using the county lines model where sadly vulnerable people are being exploited in the dealing of drugs by these gangs.

“We have got intelligence to suggest that that the lines that are operating in our city are from other parts of the UK and likewise some of the lines that we know and individuals we will be targeting today are operating in other parts of the UK causing significant harm there as well as our city.

“We have identified 31 individuals who have all been involved in drugs Class A supply and are part and parcel of these gangs.so today is a real opportunity for us.”

“First and foremost we want to reassure members of the public in Sheffield we will always continue to work for our communities and safeguard them in any any way we can.

“Secondly it is a message to any criminal network that thinks they can operate in our city at will.

“They can’t. We will target them we will get them and we will prosecute them.”

Raids took place across the city including in Meersbrook, Wybourn and Nether Edge

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