Police seized £1m of drugs in Barnsley last year

Superintendent Paul Ferguson of the Barnsley District Senior Command Team was questioned by councillors on the overview and scrutiny committee about how the force is tackling crime in the borough at their last meeting on February 8.

Supt. Ferguson told councillors that the force has ‘specifically targeted a number of organised crime groups that lead to significant groups being significantly disrupted’ across the borough.

“Part of our challenge now is trying to identify who may try and take that void,” added Supt. Ferguson.

He added that around 34 cannabis cultivations had been detected in the last year, and the force also executed 36 search warrants, recovered in the region of £1m of drugs, arrested 57 organised crime group members and recovered just short of half a million pounds of cash.

“That is a continuous piece of work for us. In the last week or so we’ve been working very, very closely with the Home Office to our approach around serious Organised Crime and learned lessons from elsewhere in other parts of the country.”

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Supt. Ferguson added that the Barnsley Team will continue to tackle the issue of drugs in the borough, to prevent ‘significant harm to society’.