Police arrest 21 in crack cocaine raids

LONDON, Apr 25 (Reuters) Police said they arrested 21 people today in a series of dawn raids across England against a multi-million pound crack cocaine network.

More than 400 officers from six forces raided addresses in London, the West Midlands, North Yorkshire, County Durham, Northumbria, Middlesbrough, Stockton and Hartlepool.

The raids followed a lengthy investigation against a largely Jamaican gang believed to be shipping crack cocaine to northeast England.

The arrests included 11 men and four women held in raids in the northeast.

Six other people were arrested in east London.

The gang imported drugs into Britain from Jamaica through a string of mainly female couriers.

The drugs were then taken by rail to Middlesbrough for distribution across the north, said Detective Inspector Dave Lamplough, of Cleveland Police's Organised Crime Unit.

''The intention today is to take out all the players of this gang from the top downwards,'' he said.

''The vast majority of people being targeted today are Jamaican. Although the gang had their base in Teesside, the main coordinators of the operation were in London.'' All those arrested were being taken to Middlesbrough for questioning.

REUTERS ABM VV1537