Drugs and jewellery seized by the Exmouth Neighbourhood Police Team

Exmouth Inspector Grant Leitch has reported that after a review of the drugs & cash seizures by the Exmouth & Ottery Neighbourhood Teams that between November 22 and August 23, they seized a collective value of drugs & cash totalling more than £350,000.

The Exmouth Neighbourhood Police Team are working hard to keep residents and visitors safe as the school holidays approach and they look ahead to the busy Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

The team were recently alerted to someone attempting to post a suspicious parcel at a local post office. The police officers identified who was dispatching the parcel and two arrests took place. A man and a woman remain on bail.

Following further investigation an amount of growing drugs was found at a residential address in Exmouth along with more than £20,000 worth of cannabis stored and ready for posting across the UK.

In addition to the drugs a range of expensive watches were also seized from the same flat, along with a safe which may suggest potential money laundering. Investigations are ongoing into these items.

Exmouth Sector Inspector Grant Leitch (pictured) explained: “A review of drugs and cash seizures by the Exmouth and Ottery Neighbourhood Team has confirmed, that between November 2022 and August 2023, they seized a collective value of drugs and cash totalling more than £350,000.

“That level of seizure was the result of around 18 police investigations and was down to the exemplary work of the Neighbourhood Team, led by Sergeant Richard Stonecliffe. They delivered this level of heightened policing whilst also fulfilling their usual neighbourhood role to deal with other incidents and engage with the local community - and their hard work continues.”

Inspector Grant Leitch added: “Exmouth and the surrounding area is a very busy place and we want the local community to know we have listened to their concerns and ideas.

“We have significantly increased our input and focus on certain areas such as Cranbrook which has an increasing population base, and consequently produces more requests from local people to the police and council.

“In the future we have officers visiting both local schools in Cranbrook to engage with the pupils and police are conducting bespoke liaison with business owners in the area to explore additional funding to prevent crime. We have also started a series of police surgeries - the first one was held on 7 March outside the Cranbrook Education Campus, and another is due to take place on 19 April outside Cranbrook Education Campus (EX5 7EE) between 3pm and 3.30pm.

“The events mean officers can give advice to the public on a range of issues such as reporting incidents and parking and we also liaise with colleagues at British Transport Police, taking into account local crime patterns.”

Police teams across Devon & Cornwall, working with colleagues in police forces across the South West recently took part in Operation Scorpion. This initiative is a regular crack down on drug dealing and County Lines in the region. During this year’s operation Devon & Cornwall Police seized drugs with a monetary value of £370,000, along with £20,000 in cash, tobacco and vapes with a monetary value of £500,000 and 73 people were safeguarded. Police also made 28 arrests, seized ten weapons and disrupted County Lines drugs routes.