The swoop took place at the West End Lane development

POLICE officers swooped on a new-build development as part of a “county lines” drugs crackdown, seizing £8,000 in cash and a bundle of Class A drugs, writes Tom Foot.

Warrants were executed in West End Lane, West Hampstead, in the early hours of last Wednesday in what the Met Police said was an intelligence-led operation.

Three men were arrested on suspicion of supply of Class A drugs after cocaine and MDMA, along with approximately £8,000 in cash, was discovered.

There were three raids on separate addresses in Camden and Islington, including the flat in West End Lane.

It was part of a wider week-long national operation attempting to crack London networks that typically exploit young and vulnerable people to run drugs in smaller towns and rural areas.

Detective Chief Inspector Sarb Kaur said: “County lines devastate lives. It is so much more than drug dealing – it causes real, visible harm and has a wide-reaching impact on communities across London. Through warrants such as this one, we are dismantling organised crime groups whose drug dealing and county lines operations fuel the very violence and gang conflict that rips communities, including in Camden and Islington, apart.”