POLICE have arrested nearly 50 people, with some from Halstead, in a bid to crackdown on County Lines drug gangs in Essex,

Essex Police say specialist officers made the arrests which saw them seize almost £100,000 in cash, 300g of loose Class A drugs and more than 1,100 prepared wraps of cocaine.

Eight County Lines have been disrupted and 11 people have been charged.

Essex Police say their investigations continue into those who were either released on bail or released under investigation.

In total, officers from Essex Police's Serious Violence Unit seized £96,509 in cash, 145.92g of Heroin, 126g of crack cocaine, 30.5g of loose cocaine, 1,149 prepared wraps of cocaine, 11g of ketamine and five weapons.

The arrests were made across the county and into London and Kent including in Halstead, Colchester and Clacton.

Temporary Detective Chief Inspector Neal Miller, of the Essex Police Serious Violence Unit, said: “The role our Op Raptor teams perform is very much a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week one.

“The work they put into finding County Lines, investigating them, establishing who is behind them.

“Our teams are specialists in their fields. They are experts in case building, which means our suspects will not know an overwhelming case is quietly being built against them so they can be put before the courts.

“Whilst these results clearly show the work we are carrying out is working, we are under no illusions some groups of people do think they are above the law and they do think they can sell their product in Essex. But our message has been consistently clear; drugs and drug dealers are not welcome in our county.

“The people who do this cause significant harm to our communities and we make no apology for pursuing them relentlessly.”

T/DCI Neal Miller added: “Although the public might be more used to seeing the enforcement side of our work, there is a lot more to the Serious Violence Unit than that.

“Our prevention officers are working hard every day to ensure those who are at risk of being exploited are given the support and help which is needed.”