Police suspect the tenant was a victim of cuckooing, a practice where drug dealers take over the property of a vulnerable person to deal from. Officers visited the tenant and as they left his flat, in Bentinck Road, they came across a man suspected of using the tenant’s flat as a drugs den. Following a conversation with him, the man ran from officers and was detained a short time later after a brief foot chase over gardens and walls. During the chase, the suspect was seen to discard a bag containing 15-20 wraps of suspected controlled drugs. The man was placed in handcuffs and arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs. The 49-year-old was further arrested on suspicion of possessing a Section 5 firearm after a plastic cannister with the same appearance as a CS cannister was recovered from the discarded bag. The arrest took place shortly after 8pm last night (19 October 2022). He has since been released under investigation. PC Jordan Vilums, of the Radford Road Response team, said: “We know that drug dealers target vulnerable and this is why we take proactive steps to safeguard them. “Drugs and weapons have a harmful impact on communities and that is why we work extremely hard every day to disrupt and ultimately stop those involved in such criminality. “If you have any information regarding any criminal issues in your area, don’t hesitate to call us on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. In an emergency call 999.”
