Four arrested and Class A drugs seized in Netherton

Four people from Netherton were arrested and more than 2kg of suspected Class A drugs seized last week as part of ongoing work to tackle organised crime groups in the area.

A 41-year-old man was arrested on Thursday, 27 July on suspicion of possession of a firearm, possession of ammunition, assisting an offender and possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs.

A 37-year-old woman was also arrested on Thursday, 27 July on suspicion of possession of Class A and B drugs with intent to supply.

A 25-year-old man was arrested in the early hours of Friday, 28 July on suspicion of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply and making threats to kill.

Both men and the woman were taken to a police station in Merseyside for questioning and have been released pending further investigation.

Officers also arrested a 36-year-old man on Thursday, 27 July and subsequently charged him with possession with intent to supply Class B drugs and possession of criminal property. He was remanded in custody to appear at Liverpool Crown Court at a later date.

Alongside the police activity, partners involved in EVOLVE Netherton took to the streets on the Park Lane estate in two community safety days to identify areas that would benefit from CCTV as well as needing cleaning up and improving.

Officers were accompanied by workers from Sefton Council, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, Plus Dane Housing, One Vision Housing and Your Housing Group as they went on the latest walkabout of the estate last Friday (July 28, 2023).

EVOLVE Netherton is a multi-agency partnership approach based on the Home Office designed Clear, Hold, Build strategy to rescue and regenerate areas most affected by serious and organised crime.

Partners involved in the three EVOLVE projects across Merseyside include Merseyside Police, Merseyside’s Police and Crime Commissioner, local councils, Merseyside Fire and Rescue, housing associations, health services, schools, colleges, the Probation Service, local businesses, community groups and residents.

Since the Clear element of EVOLVE Netherton began in February, the force has made 32 arrests, seized five firearms, 20 rounds of ammunition, a significant amount of Class A and B drugs and recovered numerous stolen cars and bikes.

There have been several community events, bike marking sessions and days of action; numerous vulnerable adults and children safeguarded and £40k in cash given to local community groups from The Power to Park Lane participatory budget event.

The latest walkabout followed the second meeting of the EVOLVE Netherton Operational Delivery Group which aims to ensure all partners are working together to tackle the problems around serious and organised crime and provide lasting solutions.

Inspector Ray Mavrakakis from the local policing team said: “It is great to see everyone working together to make a positive difference to those living and working on the Park Lane estate and surrounding area.

“We identified a number of locations that will benefit from improvements - from cleaning up broken glass and ridding the area of overgrown weeds to the installation of CCTV – all of which will help to reduce crime.

“We hope the arrests and seizures send a message to those involved in criminality in the Park Lane area that we are continuing to build our picture of those involved in serious and organised crime and we will be using all the powers available to us to get them off our streets.

“We are determined to rid the Park Lane estate of the scourge of organised crime groups and working together EVOLVE Netherton will make a significant difference to those living there.”

Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing, added: “Serious Organised Crime like this can have a drastic and very harmful effect on our communities.

“We want to place our thanks on record to the hard working investigating officers who have helped take a huge amount of suspected Class A drugs off our streets and away from our neighbourhoods.

“This is just one of the first steps the EVOLVE Netherton programme is taking for the benefit of our residents who are blighted by this type of crime."