Suspected drugs ring busted by police

Police have arrested 12 men on suspicion of involvement in a major drug-trafficking ring in a series of raids on Wednesday morning.

More than 100 police officers were involved in the synchronised raids which took place at 19 addresses in London and Kent.

The operation, codenamed Operation Alpington, followed a two-year intelligence-led invetigation by the Met's Projects Team. It concerned a Columbian criminal network, which is believed to have been supplying cocaine to two London-based criminal networks, operating across London since 1998.

Twenty-five people have already been convicted and sentenced and Scotland Yard said that Thursday's arrests were linked to the same network.

The complete network are believed to be responsible for the supply of up to 530 kilos of cocaine, as well as the intended importation of a further 668 kilos, which was disrupted by police, and money laundering estimated at £1.92 million.

The street value of the cocaine they have trafficked is estimated to be worth £60 million.

So far, the seizures in Operation Alpington include 233 kilos of cocaine, 50 kilos of heroin, 7.15 kilos of amphetamine sulphate, 20 kilos of cannabis, £233,500 in cash and two semi-automatic handguns.

Operation Alpington was initiated following intelligence from Operation Anuric, which was established five years ago to investigate a cocaine trafficking operation believed to have been one of the largest to have ever operated in the UK.

Thirty-four people, mainly from Colombia, were jailed in the UK after police smashed the international operation, which was suspected of smuggling hundreds of millions of pounds worth of cocaine into the UK.

The men arrested on Thursday were: a 36-year-old man from Bromley, Kent; a 50-year-old man from Maidstone, Kent; a 43-year-old man from Rotherhithe; a 38-year-old man from Borough Green, Kent; a 42-year-old man from Wembley; a 28-year-old man from East Ham; a 37-year-old man from Eltham; a a 37-year-old man from Bromley; a 40-year-old man from Willesden; a 32-year-old man from Edmonton; a 30-year-old man froom East Ham; and a man whose age is unknown from Edmonton.

(KMcA)