POLICE have seized more than £575,000 of drugs as part of a "dealer-a-day" crackdown, it was revealed yesterday.
The month-long Operation Advent Calendar, which ran across the Central Scotland Police area, resulted in 34 people being reported to the procurator-fiscal.
In a total of 30 raids, 33 people were reported for supplying drugs while 30 have been char
ged with possessing drugs.
Drugs worth £578,467 were recovered, with the bulk of the haul coming from one property in Falkirk, where more than £500,000 worth of cannabis, amphetamine and cocaine was seized.
Officers targeted 16 addresses in Falkirk, seven in Clackmannanshire and seven in Stirling.
A spokesman for the Central Scotland Police drug squad said: "The aim was to target an average of a dealer a day in the run-up to Christmas, and that has been achieved.
"However, our activity in targeting drug supplies in Central Scotland is not just focused on this period.
"We have a number of outstanding warrants and our message to dealers is simple – the New Year will see no let up in our enforcement activity."
Meanwhile, cocaine with a street value of about £400,000 was seized at Heathrow Airport on Christmas Eve, HM Revenue and Customs said last night.
A passenger was stopped as he arrived at Terminal 4 on a flight from Buenos Aires after about 10kg of the drug was allegedly found in his baggage. Robert Bennett, 30, who is unemployed, was arrested and charged with attempting to smuggle cocaine into the UK.
Customs spokesman Bob Gaiger said: "Vigilance has prevented this cocaine from reaching its destination.
"We will continue to work to the government's aim of reducing the availability of class-A drugs.
"Smuggling during the Christmas and New Year period should not be seen as a soft touch."
Bennett, of Dart Close, Finchampstead, Berkshire, was remanded in custody.
The full article contains 326 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
