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Four major dealers in Limavady - reveals Crime Team officer

10 August 2010
Limavady has four major drug dealers who are operating across the North West and are using youths as young as 13 and 14 to conduct drug runs, the 'Journal' has learned.

The shocking revelation by a member of Limavady PSNI Crime Team comes in the wake of a recent
17,500 drugs seizure in the area. The cannabis resin was recovered from a hedge in a rural location on the outskirts of the town. Such seizures, many near local visitor attractions, are not uncommon, according to the officer.

"These dealers have been in Limavady for a while and we can catch them and we do catch them, but they get out again and that's the problem" he said.

The officer described the dealers as "brazen" who often taunt police.
"They'll say things like 'I've nothing on me today' or 'You're unlucky today. You should have stopped me yesterday'. They know me and the other officers better than they know their own mothers," he said. "What is frightening is that these drug dealers cynically use kids to make drug runs."

However, the officer believes with the seizures made and more information coming forward from the public police are making inroads to the drugs problem in the Roe Valley.

Last year they recovered 29 kilos of cannabis in the Limavady area, with each kilo attracting a street value of
5,000. Between cannabis, Ecstasy, amphetamines and cocaine, drugs seized in Limavady amounted to
365,000.

So far this year, there have been more than 90 drug incidents in the area with seizures ranging from "very big" with hauls having a street value of as much as
30,000 to "very small" seizures. Cocaine is no longer a big player on the drugs scene, with other former legal highs and cannabis becoming the drugs of choice.

"In some areas we are getting more and more information and in some areas we get very little and I fully understand people are frightened and the attitude that if it doesn't affect them it is not their problem," he said.

"The only way to stop it is when people stop using it (drugs) but what helps us most is people phoning us and talking to us."
"It wasn't that long ago when "you could have stood on any street corner in Limavady and got drugs," said the officer, but now "the whole business is very clandestine. These drug dealers are very clever."
The officer believes a large percentage of the population aren't aware of the extent of the drugs problem in Limavady because, for the most part, it is a hidden crime.

"We are starting from the outside in and that makes it extremely difficult for us," he said.

The officer said Limavady is no worse than any other town in the North but believes for the size of the area seizures are substantial. Hotspots for dealers and users in Limavady include the Coolessan/Glens area, Sperrin Road and local beauty spots.

The officer appealed to residents with any information about drug activity in their area, or if they suspect something is going on to call police or Crimestoppers and their information will be taken confidentially.

"If it doesn't look right, please tell us. The wrong Ecstasy tablet from any one of these drug dealers in Limavady will and has killed,"
he added.

Ear

Bongme