NORTH Wales Police has helped towards making more than 500 drug-related arrests and seizing more than 4,000kg of drugs across the region in the past year.

The North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), working with North West Police Forces and partners have made around 544 arrests and seized more than 4,500kg of drugs – the equivalent of almost five tons, between April 2018 and March 2019.

Jail sentences from the 544 arrests add up to more than 2,080 years, while the weight of class A drugs seized added up to 560kg and class B drugs made up a total of 4,000kg of seized items.

NWROCU is responsible for tackling serious and organised crime across the North West region, managing the threat posed from crime types such as firearms supply, county drugs lines, child sexual exploitation, cybercrime and modern-day slavery.

Officers use a range of specialist tactics and work closely alongside police forces and partner agencies to disrupt dangerous offenders operating across North Wales, Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside.

Emily Higham, head of the Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “It’s been a really successful year for the North West ROCU in our fight against serious and organised crime across the region.

“We’re here to help take down the most serious, hardened and organised criminals who pose the more serious threat to our communities.

“Thanks to the hard work of our officers, officers within the North West police forces and our partner agencies, a large number of prolific criminals will be spending time behind bars and we’ve taken a significant quantity of drugs and illegal firearms off the streets.

“We’re looking forward to continuing our mission to protect the communities within the North West from serious and organised crime in 2019.”