Melton Borough Council has secured multiple Closure Orders to tackle county lines drug operations in Melton Mowbray Town Centre and protect residents.
Working with Leicestershire Police, the Council successfully secured multiple orders at Leicester Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Wednesday).
This is the highest number of Closure Orders Melton Borough Council have secured in one day. They are the outcome of a joint operation with Leicestershire Police to tackle county lines in the area and associated anti-social behaviour.
The two organisations have been working closely together over several weeks to gather and review intelligence to conduct this major operation, including engaging with the community.
This helped to ensure high quality evidence and robust applications to court to disrupt the county line whilst remaining focussed at all times on protecting vulnerable victims.
Three of the Closure Orders, which are now in place, prohibit anyone from entering the properties for the period of 3-months with option to extend for a further 3 months if required.
One partial closure order was also successfully granted as part of the hearing to safeguard tenants and allow only them to enter their properties. A further temporary closure notice has also been extended by the court to prohibit visitors and unlawful activity pending a further court hearing. Anyone breaching the Order(s) could be arrested and, if found guilty, could face a custodial sentence and/or a fine.
Councillor Sarah Cox, Chair of the Safer Communities Partnership said: “This shows that issues of County Lines are not only within big cities, they are very real issues across the country and offenders target locations such as Melton too. This can lead to devasting impacts on the safety of our communities and those who are exploited and caught up in this appalling crime. We will not tolerate this activity in our Borough and we hope these Closure Orders send a strong message that we will take swift action to disrupt and tackle these issues, ensuring we protect our vulnerable residents from these gangs.
“This has been a very time intensive process, with a lot of work behind the scenes, and we have worked tirelessly with our partners at Leicestershire Police over the last few weeks to ensure we were able to gather all the necessary evidence to execute the orders efficiently. Our officers have been working with those affected by these gangs and offering tailored support to individuals, including providing security equipment to households through our target hardening scheme. We will continue to support our residents and take any necessary action needed in the future, including tenancy action.
“I would like to thank our Safer Communities team, our Housing team, Legal team and Leicestershire Police for all their hard work, collaboration and swift action over the past few weeks. We will continue to work together and monitor the situation moving forward to protect our communities from such behaviour.
If you have concerns about county lines activity, please don’t hesitate to report it. We take concerns and reports seriously and as you will see, we will see them through to a conclusion, but we need to know about them first.”
County lines is a form of organised criminal activity in which drug dealers in major cities establish networks for the supply and sale of drugs to users in towns and rural areas, using other people (typically those who are young or otherwise vulnerable) to carry, store, and sell the drugs.
Organised Crime Gangs often use high levels of violence and intimidation to protect the ‘county line’ and control them. One of these forms of control exploits vulnerable people by using their home as a base for dealing drugs, a process known as ‘cuckooing’. Dealers often convince vulnerable people to let their home be used for drug dealing by giving them free drugs or offering to pay for food or utilities.
Inspector Darren Richardson, commander for the Melton and Rutland Neighbourhood Policing Area (NPA), said: “In recent months we’ve received several reports concerning drug activity and antisocial behaviour at a number of addresses.
“We understand that such behaviour can have a significant impact on the lives and wellbeing of our community and it’s completely unacceptable.
“I’m grateful to our colleagues at the Council for their collaboration in obtaining this order. By taking necessary action we’ve been able to prevent this behaviour from continuing and I’d like to thank the people of Melton for the information they’ve passed on to us.”
Incidents can be reported to the police by calling 101 or by reporting online. Anonymous reporting is available through Crimestoppers.
If it’s an emergency, where someone is in immediate danger, always call 999.
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