Drug labs of industrial scale discovered in Merseyside

Eight individuals were taken into custody during dawn raids after authorities uncovered large-scale drug laboratories, reportedly among the most extensive the UK has ever seen. Officers from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit executed ten search warrants at residential locations across Merseyside on Wednesday morning.

In Prescot, police forced entry into a property using a saw and arrested a 68-year-old man, who was escorted to a police van wearing only shorts and a jacket covering his face. The suspects face allegations of producing and conspiring to distribute Class A and B drugs.

The operation is linked to a probe that started two-and-a-half years ago, after South Wales police detained a Liverpool-based suspect found with an estimated 1 million worth of amphetamines.

Earlier in April 2024, warrants were executed at industrial sites in Bootle and Huyton. Authorities discovered one tonne of suspected heroin adulterant and 550 kilograms of suspected cocaine adulterant. Simultaneously, a residential search in St Helens revealed an amphetamine laboratory containing 80 kilograms of the drug.

Inspector Danny Murphy described the scale of the labs in 2023 as potentially the largest ever observed in the UK, emphasizing the complexity and detail of the ongoing investigation. He stated that the organized crime network is believed to have distributed the drugs nationwide through a multimillion-pound operation.

The arrested individuals are thought to have played key roles within the criminal enterprise, including drug production, courier activities, and coordination of operations. Authorities believe the substances were imported and then processed with adulterants in the labs, generating significant profits for the organization.

Author: Logan Reeves