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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Luke Traynor

Rolex watches, designer trainers and drug press seized in raid

This was the drugs press seized from a suspect's home along with a haul of luxury clothes and expensive Rolex watches.

Police smashed their way into a home on the Merseyside and Cheshire border on Friday morning as part of a renewed fight tackling the region's gun and drug thugs.

They swooped at the property in the Cronton area, at 7am, where they arrested a man and a woman, aged 33 and 38.

The man was held on suspicion of conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin and acquiring/using/possessing criminal property.

The woman detained in the same raid, was held on suspicion of acquiring/using/possessing criminal property.

Both have been questioned over the weekend.

Now, police have released photographs of items seized during the raid, led by the National Crime Agency and Merseyside Police.

A black drugs press was taken away for forensic examination and a stash of luxury items including Lavin and Balanciega clothes.

Expensive Rolex watches and designer trainers were also bagged up and taken away.

(NCA)

The raid was part of a new a new crime-fighting taskforce, the Merseyside Organised Crime Partnership, focusing on organised crime groups bringing drugs and guns into the county.

It is funded under Project Adder and uses government money for targeted drugs enforcement.

(NCA)

And detectives were led to the door in Cronton thanks to intelligence gathered as part of Operation Venetic - the smashing of the EncroChat network, the communication system favoured by criminals because of its supposed inability to be traced.

Goods seized by police after a raid by police in Cronton (NCA)

But it was hacked last year by IT professionals working for police across the UK and Europe, and it suddenly gave investigators a first-hand glance into thousands of criminals' dirty operations.

(NCA)

Footage showed the 33-year-old man, dressed in a yellow T-shirt, jeans and white trainers, being led from the house in handcuffs.

A Range Rover and a scrambler bike were also loaded onto a transporter vehicle.

Nikki Holland, NCA Director of Investigations, said: "We are really proud to be working with Merseyside Police in this joint venture to protect the public.

"It is a very exciting new chapter for both regional and UK law enforcement."

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Ian Critchley, Assistant Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, said: "We are proud of our relentless approach to targeting and bringing to justice those individuals involved in organised crime.

"We have invested resources to work with our partners and the public of Merseyside to make our communities safer."

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