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Over £1million pounds worth of illegal drugs has been seized by Middlesbrough Proactive Team officers since their inception in November 2023.
Alongside £12,500 worth of class A drugs, officers from the Proactive Team have recovered around £1,179,000 worth of cannabis from various cannabis farms in Middlesbrough in the last nine months.
The team have made 171 arrests during that time, for numerous offences including prison recalls and class A drugs offences and seized numerous off-road bikes and quad bikes.
12 years’ worth of prison sentences has already been secured, along with a 20-month suspended sentence, two youth orders and a three-year community order. Numerous others are waiting sentencing through the courts.
The team proactively targeted a crime spate in the Middlesbrough town centre area, where vehicles were purposely being targeted to steal car parts during football matches. Plain clothes patrols were carried out and a man was arrested and charged on the first deployment during a football match.
40-year-old Carl Crooks, from Middlesbrough, later pleaded guilty to theft from a motor vehicle and was handed a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £600 in compensation.
Class A drug dealer Arez Ali was sentenced to four years in prison earlier this year after Proactive Team officers seized £1,000 worth of crack cocaine from him during a stop search in Middlesbrough.
Superintendent Marc Anderson, District Commander for Middlesbrough, said: “Since the Proactive Team was introduced in Middlesbrough, there has been some fantastic work which has been alongside colleagues from neighbourhoods, response and CID. The work of the Proactive Team compliments other teams, whilst also freeing them up to continue with ongoing investigations.
“By continuing this work we are clamping down on criminals and tackling the issues which are affecting the residents of Middlesbrough, in order to provide the best service that we can to our communities.”