Drugs and weapons seizures near Sevenoaks

Drugs and weapons including knives and a knuckle duster have been seized by officers at separate locations in the Sevenoaks district. More than 700 cannabis plants will now be destroyed, following the latest proactive enforcement in Horton Kirby and New Ash Green. At 10am on Thursday 6 February 2020 officers executed a search warrant at a residential property in Colstead, New Ash Green, where two upstairs rooms had been adapted to grow cannabis. They recovered 74 plants as well as around 2kg of the drug which appeared to have been bagged for distribution. On the same day police were on patrol in Horton Kirby, when they became suspicious of a locked building contained within Oakview Stud Farm. Closer inspection revealed a number of power cables and a water supply entering the building. The officers also detected the smell of cannabis and upon gaining entry found a cultivation of around 650 plants. Investigations concerning both locations are ongoing and at this stage no arrests have been made. Sevenoaks Chief Inspector, Jon Kirby said: ‘We will continue to actively target people and criminal gangs engaged in the manufacture and supply of drugs, regardless of the scale of the operation. These plants, as well the equipment seized here, will all be destroyed. There can also be no justification for anyone carrying weapons, such as those seized by my officers. We are all too aware of the devastating consequences of knife crime, often at the needless cost of young lives and we remain firmly committed to protecting our communities from the harm it causes. Removing these weapons from our streets is an absolute priority and this includes taking a zero tolerance approach, where officers are proactively pursuing and prosecuting those offenders who think it acceptable to carry them.’