Britain: 8 held in multi-million-pound drugs swoop
( 2001-10-12 10:50 ) (7 )

Eight people were being held Friday at police stations in west Wales in connection with a multi-million-pound, Europe-wide drug trafficking and money laundering scheme, UK police said.

Seven men and a woman were detained following raids on properties in Wales and a swoop on suspects at a service station in Reading, west of London, the National Crime Squad revealed late Thursday.

Officers seized firearms, ammunition, hundreds of Ecstasy tablets and thousands of pounds (dollars) in cash following the arrests Wednesday.

The raids followed a long-running inquiry into the supply of cocaine and Ecstasy across Europe led by the Wales branch of the National Crime Squad.

The massive operation was assisted by the National Criminal Intelligence Service, HM Customs, South Wales Police fraud squad, Dyfed Powys Police and Dutch law enforcement authorities.

Detective Chief Inspector Jeff Jenkins of the National Crime Squad said: "This operation will have a major impact on the supply of Ecstasy and cocaine, not only in south and west Wales, but also through the rest of the UK, where this sophisticated organisation had many links."

On Wednesday, three men and one woman were detained at Reading Services where detectives seized more than 300 Ecstasy tablets and more than 400,000 pounds (US$578,000).

Four further arrests were made following a series of co-ordinated raids on seven addresses in the Swansea, Neath and Llanelli areas of west Wales late on Thursday.

Two shotguns and two air rifles, together with ammunition and a quantity of powder yet to be examined were seized during the raids.

A spokesman for the Crime Squad said that those arrested had yet to be charged.

He added that the eight were aged between 30 and 50, with two from the Folkestone area, southeastern England, and the remainder from the Llanelli and Swansea regions.