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Today another strong message have been sent out in the courts,
that the supply of controlled drugs
in the communities of Cheshire will not be tolerated. Further to the investigation
of Operation Cortex
where 18 people were sentenced in
March of this year, to a total of 98 years in prison for the offences
of consipracy to supply controlled drugs.
Operation Knock is the sequel to that investigation.
Once Cheshire Police identified that they had left a void in the communities
of Warrington,
they remained there
and continued to investigate the drugs market in Warrington.
There we established that
two nominals;
Shawn O'Malley and
Anthony Cullen the brother of Leon Cullen (who
was the ringleader of Operation Cortex),
were engaged in,
the supply of controlled drugs.
The operation
then followed a number of weeks of
dedicated surveillance to secure evidence of this new organised crime group,
and capture them
supplying and
manufacturing controlled drugs.
This resulted in March of this year,
of Shawn O'Malley being arrested
with a quarter of a kilo of ***.
This *** was quite significant because it was 83% pure.
The average amount or the average purity of
drugs recovered from the streets of Warrington
was normally between 2 and 5 percent.
Clearly with this being 83%,
these individuals
would of adulterated that and bashed it to a
significant amount of drugs - multi kilos
that would eventually worked their way down onto the streets and into the communities
of Warrington.
Further investigation
showed there is a link between Anthony Cullen and this seizure
of the *** from Shawn O'Malley.
This led to many hours of surveillance,
and led the police to
a caravan situated in Rixton just outside of Warrington.
There observations identified
members of the organised crime group
moving industrial pressed into the caravan
and eventually led to
us conducting a search warrant at that address where a substantial amount of
***,
mixing agents and an industrial press with blender was recovered.
Following the arrest of Lee Blackmore and Christopher Ellison,
at the caravan in Rixton
where a large amount of drugs was recovered.
Further investigation was conducted by Cheshire Police
and a further 4 people were arrested and charged with offences of conspiracy to
supply
Class A controlled drugs
in and around Warrington.
The message that I'm hoping to get out is that
the supply of controlled drugs within our communities will not be tolerated by
Cheshire Constabulary.
We will take action. We will enforce.
We have shown during Operation Cortex and Operation Knock
that Cheshire Police will respond
to messages or information that
the community provide.
I urge the communities of Warrington and Cheshire
to continue to provide that information and supply that information
in whatever way they feel that they can. Whether that's through Crimestoppers, contacting their
neighbourhood policing officers
or direct calls into Cheshire Police,
because the information they give is crucial to us identifying
what threat and risks and opportunities are out there
for us to take or investigate.