500 DRUG DEALERS ARRESTED IN A YEAR

Police have dealt a major blow to crime in Leicestershire by arresting
nearly 500 suspected drug dealers in the past 12 months.

Officers say the streets are safer after a record-breaking year in the
war on the heroin and crack cocaine trades.

The force has arrested 475 Class A drug dealers in the past year -
more than six times the number arrested in the previous year, when 74
dealers were caught.

The latest Home Office figures obtained by the Leicester Mercury show
officers arrested 244 heroin dealers last year - compared to 35 in the
previous 12 months, while there is similar news on the assault on the
crack cocaine market - with arrests rising from nine in 2002/03 to 135
last year.

The remaining Class A drug arrests were for people dealing cocaine,
ecstasy and amphetamines.

Leicestershire's chief constable, Matt Baggott, pledged to target the
hard drugs trade when he took up his post more than two years ago.

He told the Leicester Mercury: "The more drug dealers we lock up, the
safer our streets and young people will be.

"We're saying 'give us the information and we will do the
rest'."

The force's money laundering experts are also stepping up their
efforts to seize the trappings of some of the biggest dealers' luxury
lifestyles.

Senior officers believe dealers are now ditching the trappings of
their wealth - the flash cars, luxury homes, designer suits, jewellery
and private school places for their children - in an effort to throw
officers off their trail.

These officers seized luxury goods worth around UKP1 million last year
under the Proceeds of Crime Act - legislation introduced by the
Government in 2002 to take back anything bought with illegally
obtained cash.

Detective Inspector Jim Riley, of the economic crime unit, said: "They
know they are putting themselves on the coconut shy for us to knock
them down. They can't be flash with their wealth, their lifestyles
must change."

The Highfields, Beaumont Leys, Mowmacre and Stocking Farm areas were
among those targeted in police operations in the past year.

Shaukut Seedat, a former chairman of the St Peter's Tenants'
Association in Highfields, said: "There has been a concentration on
drug dealing. People have noticed what the police are doing.

"Hopefully, that will send a strong message but the police have to
continue and go after the big people.