Bodycam footage shows officers swoop on £100k-a-week drug operation in Birmingham

West Midlands Police deployed over 200 officers on early morning raids at properties across Birmingham and Solihull.

Bodycam footage has captured the dramatic moment officers swooped on a £100,000-a-week drug operation in the West Midlands.

More than 200 police officers were involved in the early morning raid on Tuesday, targeting a number of properties simultaneously across Birmingham and Solihull.

A significant quantity of class A drugs, large sums of cash and mobile phones suspected to be used in the management of the county lines have been recovered so far in the bust, police said.

Nine people were arrested and 16 warrants were executed in what West Midlands Police said was the "largest county lines crackdown operation" by their County Lines Taskforce.

The police operation was able to intercept four drug lines, which take over 1,000 calls a day and sell to more than 200 drug users of class A heroin and crack cocaine.

Officers said dealers would stack up an estimated value between £18,000 and £20,000 per day from sales, staggering up to £100,000 per week.

Eight men and one woman, aged from 19 to 35, remain in a dedicated custody facility to face questioning later today while officers conduct searches of each property.

Chief Constable Craig Guildford, who accompanied officers executing one of the warrants in Ward End Park Road, said: “This operation has been really successful and we’ve got people in custody.

“The most important thing is we’ve responded to local intelligence and we are determined to tackle the scourge of County Lines.

“What’s behind these lines is vulnerable people who are sent to do that trade, so we are trying to prevent them from entering that criminality, but more importantly we are gathering evidence around those higher up the chain – they cause communities misery.

“County Lines fuels serious and organised crime, such as knife crime, burglary and robbery, and we intend to bear down on it.”

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