Neighbourhood officers safeguard woman from cuckooed address

Neighbourhood police officers in Northampton safeguarded a woman whose address was suspected to have been being cuckooed during two warrants executed on April 7.

Yesterday morning, officers went through the doors of two addresses in Roe Road following intelligence that drug activity was taking place inside them.

Once inside, they arrested a 16-year-old boy who was found with Class A drugs on him. A flick knife and two phones were also seized during the warrants.

A woman in her 20s who was deemed to be vulnerable was also removed and safeguarded as her address was suspected to have been being cuckooed.

“Cuckooing” is a form of crime in which drug dealers take over the home of a vulnerable person in order to use it as a base.

Neighbourhood Policing Inspector Andy Blaize, said: “Drug dealers will take advantage of vulnerable people, as well as children, in order to further their enterprises, so it’s really important for us to use these disruption tactics to halt their efforts.

“I am pleased that we found this woman as part of our enforcement activity yesterday and will now work to try and get her the support she needs.

“I would also like to use this opportunity to appeal to people in Northampton to contact us with any suspicious behaviour or suspected drug dealing in your local area. Community intelligence is vital in helping us build a picture of the specific issues in an area so we can work to tackle them, so please do get in touch.”