Police crack down on drug barons as Belford dealers are sentenced

Judge Guy Whitburn spoke out as he sentenced two men for their part in a drugs ring that stunned the village of Belford, Northumberland, in which police seized £16,000 worth of mature cannabis plants.

And a Journal investigation has accessed drug seizure figures for Northumbria Police's Northumberland area command over a 12-month period.

A total of 108.68g of heroin was recovered in 2007/08, and with the class A drug changing hands for around £50 a gram on the streets, that places the value of the haul at nearly £5,500. Meanwhile 681g of cocaine was seized, which had a street value of nearly £30,000.

The amount of class B amphetamines recovered weighed in at 1442.3g last year while the haul of herbal cannabis was 1,442g, with 1479 cannabis plants also seized following raids across rural Northumberland.

The last three years have also seen increasing amounts of crack cocaine peddled in the rural community. Nearly 25g of the hugely-addictive class A drug were seized last year. Peter Atkinson, Tory MP for Hexham, last night said drug abuse in rural communities was pushing up the rate of crime and disorder.

He said: "There's no doubt there are drugs on the scene in this part of the world, in Hexham and other market towns in Northumberland. There is a problem, particularly with the so-called 'weaker' drugs like cannabis.

"There's also a steady stream of young men appearing in court with various charges where they claim they have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The problem is that there has been a mixed message about drugs and their classification."

The National Programme for Substance Abuse Deaths (np-SAD) uses data from all of the UK's coroner's courts to record the number of people killed by drugs each year.

The figures relate to both illegal and prescription drug abuse. Across the UK, 77% of those who died were male and 71% were under 45.

The latest np-SAD reports breaks the number of deaths down into areas covered by drug action teams, with latest figures being for 2007, when there were 54 deaths across the North East.

In Newcastle, there were 10 fatalities, with four each in Northumberland and County Durham.

Police chiefs last night denied there was a problem with the cultivation of drugs in rural communities - but insisted they would come down hard on those caught flouting the law.

Detective Inspector Deborah Alderson said: "There is not a significant issue with drug use or production in our rural communities. However, we take a firm stance against anyone caught misusing drugs."

DRUG RAIDS

A string of raids have yielded a massive haul of drugs from Northumberland drug dens in recent months.

Last month four people were arrested and drugs with a street value of £1,000 were recovered when units of Northumbria Police officers in riot-style vans descended on Alnwick.

Operation Fossick saw officers storm pubs and domestic premises in the town centre. The operation also took in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, where the Railway pub was closed by police and more than £1,000 worth of amphetamine and cocaine was recovered.

A number of people were stopped and searched, and three men and a woman were arrested for drug-related offences.

Earlier this month harvested dope was recovered in a strike on an industrial unit in Callerton, near Ponteland, Northumberland.

And in February cannabis plants worth between £50,000 and £80,000 were seized in Blyth.

A drug "salesman" and his gang of dealers were also jailed earlier this year after the drugs baron armed himself with an improvised handgun and travelled the country selling heroin.

Greg Dixon, 26, of no fixed address, operated his nationwide heroin syndicate from a base in Berwick, Northumberland.