Seizures of drugs in Norfolk are at their highest level for more than a decade as police continue to turn the screw on county lines gangs.
Police made a total of 5,208 drug seizures in the year ending March 2021, a 46pc increase on the 3,562 made in the previous 12 months.
Data from the Home Office shows the dramatic rise in the first year of Covid was the fourth consecutive annual increase in seizures in the county.
Norfolk had the highest figure for seizures per million population outside London.
Operations to disrupt county lines drug dealing have played a significant part in the recent rise, with close to 2,000 adults and hundreds of under-18s arrested since Operation Gravity was launched in 2017.
Detective chief inspector Sonia Humphreys said the increase in drug seizures was a direct result of the proactive work officers to tackle the county line menace.
“As an important priority of policing in Norfolk, additional resources have been afforded to county lines and drug related crime enforcement,” she said.
“Operation Orochi, as part of Operation Gravity, has in the past two years closed 52 county lines with 77 people being charged and over £115,000 in cash recovered.
“There have been 47 convictions as a result, coming to a total sentencing date of 188 years.”
Overall there were 135 seizures of Class A drugs in the county in 2020/21, with heroin the most common found by police.
This was followed by seizures of methadone, crack, cocaine, morphine, ecstasy and LSD.
Cannabis was by far the most common drug, seized on 3,405 occasions, with the three main types of herbal, plant and resin involved in 65pc of all drug seizures in Norfolk.
The Home Office data shows 106kg of herbal cannabis was seized, together with 1kg of cannabis resin and 7,939 cannabis plants.
Other Class B drugs seized included 13 amphetamine seizures totalling 1kg and 13 seizures of ketamine.
Class C drug seizures included 47 of benzodiazepines, totalling more than a thousand doses,
Norfolk also had the highest number of unknown class seizures in the country, with 1,731 being uncategorised.
Analysis: Simon Parkin, Crime Correspondent
More drug seizures could reflect more drugs being on Norfolk streets, but police are keen to stress it's largely a sign of enforcement targeted at crime gangs.
Seizing drugs such as crack cocaine and heroin disrupts criminals. But such seizures are only one piece of the jigsaw to protect often vulnerable young people from being drawn into drugs, violence and exploitation.
Detective chief inspector Humphreys said Operation Gravity had enabled police to “build a clearer intelligence picture and identify opportunities for enforcement against those who were supplying heroin and crack cocaine”.
But schemes like the Project Adder pilot in Norwich are also focussed on diversion, treatment and recovery as well as enforcement to reduce the demand for drugs and the criminal activity they bring.
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