More than £300k and drugs seized in Luton town centre as major new crackdown on crime begins

More than £300,000 cash and drugs have now been seized in Luton town centre as police get ready for a major new crackdown on crime.

Bedfordshire Police’s Operation Metal has also taken 19 weapons off the streets and made 63 arrests since it began in the summer.

Over the past two weeks plain clothes officers have been working with council CCTV operators in the town to arrest a man suspected of drug dealing, seizing illegal drugs and a phone believed to be linked to a drugs line.

And in the past month officers from the community enforcement team (CET) have visited people suspected of carrying knives, safeguarded a suspected drugs runner for a county line from London and rehoused a repeated victim of cuckooing.

Now police are preparing for a new crackdown – Project Servator – to boost its effort to disrupt crime in Luton, including terrorism, while reassuring the public.

Working together with the community, Project Servator teams pop up in areas on highly visible and unpredictable deployments, making life harder for criminals.

The teams include both uniformed and plain clothes officers, and are specially trained to spot signs that someone may be planning to commit crime and use other specialist tactics.

Chief Inspector Alex House said: “Operation Metal is continuing to act as a significant deterrent to criminal activity in Luton town centre, making the community far safer in the process. This disruption will only enhance with the rollout of Project Servator.

"The aim of Project Servator is to disrupt hostile reconnaissance, the planning that may help terrorists and other criminals to commit a crime, while increasing the visible policing presence and reassuring the public.

"Project Servator has been in effect at London Luton Airport for some time and achieved some amazing results, which we hope to see replicated across the town as we launch these new deployments. We will be deploying officers in different areas at different times to deter crime and help keep our communities safe.”

Since it began this summer Operation Metal, led by the CET and the Luton community policing team, has seized £259,000 worth of drugs and £58,675 in cash.