00:00I'm embedded with the Merseyside Police on a 6am drug raid in Kirby, on the outskirts of
00:11Liverpool. We're following a Matrix unit, highly specialised armed officers who tackle
00:17drug and gun crime across county lines. Officers have tracked a mobile phone implicated in the
00:23dealing of drugs, including crack cocaine and heroin, to a nearby address. As police
00:28radios sound off, and surveillance tracks overhead, the phone appears to be surrounded. All that
00:35remains to be seen is whether the phone's owner, suspected of being involved in the supply
00:39of illegal drugs, is at home. Time for an early wake up call.
00:44Police! Please! Stop still police with the water!
01:00Police!
01:02So today we're here at an address where officers have gained entry and arrested a male involved
01:24in county lines. So in essence, that individual is in control of a mobile phone device which
01:30we know is involved in the supply of drugs out into communities here. This isn't the
01:35first and it certainly won't be the last. Our approach is absolutely this relentless pursuit
01:39of individuals involved in this type of crime. So the warning to people is, stop now, otherwise
01:44you'll be getting an early morning lock like this and we'll be taking you away to custody
01:48and charging you and putting you before the courts and sending you to prison.
01:51Stood nearby, newly appointed police minister Sarah Jones observed the morning's proceedings.
01:58Operations like this one are part of a renewed push by the government
02:02to crack down on the supply of illegal drugs crossing the country.
02:06I'm the policing minister and I wanted to come today to see this operation which has taken out
02:12a dangerous criminal who is using drugs, using misery, using exploitation to make money. It's disgusting,
02:22we want to stamp down on it in this government. What we've managed to do this year is to arrest
02:27more senior gang leaders this year than ever before which is pretty impressive because we want to take
02:33these people off the streets, we want to take them out of the system, we want to stop the exploitation
02:36of our kids, the grooming of our kids and obviously the exploitation of people and their drug addiction.
02:43It's not clear whether the phone was found in the raid or whether it was stashed away as officers
02:48entered the property. When it is eventually found, it could lead to even more information about the
02:53intricate web of criminals involved in drug and weapons dealing across county lines. Caspar Barnes,
03:00reporting to the independent.
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