£208,000 worth of drugs seized by Lancashire Police in three months as they remain determined to ‘root out’ criminals

Criminals who use roads for serious and organised crime have found themselves in the direct firing line of a brand new Lancashire policing team after their roads policing department underwent a major re-model in June which resulted in the creation of two new teams. One of them – the Roads Crime Team, has been set up solely to tackle offences such as drug-couriering, money laundering, burglary, human trafficking and other serious offences where the road network may be used. Since June, they have also seized £144,000 in cash, made 92 arrests and recovered 60 stolen vehicles which included intercepting a Mercedes that was sighted in Blackpool carrying over 7kg of cannabis and a house search which turned up a half a kilogram of heroin.

Assistant Chief Constable at Lancashire Police Pete Lawson said it is a priority to make roads even safer for the majority of law-abiding motorists: “These changes come as a direct result of feedback from our roads policing officers who told us what changes they wanted to see to enable the department to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. We know members of the public are rightly infuriated by dangerous driving and people who put others at risk on the roads and we will continue to deal with this as a priority. However, we now also have a new team which will be dedicated solely to bringing down those involved in serious criminality too.

The second of the new teams to be created is the Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which is dedicated to patrolling Lancashire’s roads and dealing with ‘fatal five’ offences such as speeding and drink or drug-driving, as well as attending scenes of serious and fatal collisions.

“The results so far speak for themselves and we hope they send a message to all criminals – whether they are drug-driving or bringing drugs into the county – that we are determined to root them out and will not stand for them causing misery in our communities. To assist the changes we have been taking delivery of a range of new high performance vehicles, fitted with the latest law enforcement technology to help target criminals. The new vehicles are already out on the road but we will be taking delivery of more over the coming months.”

Lancashire's Police and Crime Commissioner Andrew Snowden added: "Targeting dangerous drivers is one of my Fighting Crime Plan priorities as it comes up time and time again as a huge concern for our communities. There is a poetic irony that cash taken out of the pockets of criminals, is then reinvested back into communities through my Safer Lancashire Neighbourhood Fund, supporting projects aimed at reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.

"The message is clear, if you're a criminal using the roads, or you recklessly put yourself or others at risk, whether on our motorways, town, or country roads, you'll be stopped and feel the full force of the law."