Two arrested following drugs warrant in Blaenau Ffestiniog

As a result, a local woman in her 40s and a man in his 20s from the North West area were both arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs. A large quantity of cash and what is believed to be class A drugs, were seized from the property.

Sgt Iwan Jones said: “The whole operation came about following information received from the community. We were made aware that two men from the North West of England had temporarily moved into an address in the town and were actively selling controlled drugs.”

The method adopted by the males was in line with the county lines model whereby drug dealers from larger urban area extend their activities to rural areas by sending low level dealers to deal drugs on their behalf. The dealers usually stay at an address of a vulnerable individual, often without the consent of that individual, and carry out their activities from the address. This is known as ‘Cuckooing’ due to its similarity with the behaviour of the cuckoo in occupying other birds’ nests.

Sgt Jones added; “We would like to thank the community for their assistance and support during the operation. From the feedback received by local residents it is clear that there is little tolerance for this sort of activity within the town.”

“This is believed to be one the first incidents of cuckooing within the Gwynedd South area and due to the information provided by the community, we were able to act quickly to disrupt the activity.”

“We want to reassure the local community that we are taking this issue seriously and we will target individuals who persistently cause misery to local people and visitors to the area.”

Anyone with information is urged to pass it on to the Police via the web live chat http://www.north-wales.police.uk/contact/chat-support.aspx or by phoning 101. Alternatively call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Both the man and woman have been interviewed and released under investigation.