Dawn Raids Nab Two in New London Crackdown on Class A Drug Lines
Two men in their 20s were arrested in early morning raids as part of a fresh Met Police blitz on London’s deadly Class A drug networks. The operation, launched only a month ago, zeroes in on intra-London county lines, aiming to crush the ruthless dealers fueling violence and misery across the capital.
Operation Yamata: Taking the Fight to London’s Drug Lords
Building on the success of Operation Orochi—a Met campaign that shut down over 800 county lines and netted nearly 1,000 arrests—Operation Yamata targets local Class A drug lines. Funded by the Home Office, this pilot scheme has already identified more than 100 active intra-London lines. During Wednesday’s raids in East London, police seized £4,500 in cash and multiple mobile phones from suspects still being held in custody.
Met Police and Politicians Team Up
Policing Minister Kit Malthouse joined Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty and specialist officers on the ground during the dawn crackdown. McNulty said:
“Drugs inflict untold damage on the most vulnerable in our society and plague communities. Operation Yamata is early days but we’ve already arrested eight people, charged six, and shut down six lines. To every drug dealer out there—we’re coming for you. It’s only a matter of time before we are at your door.”
Malthouse added:
“Drug gangs have too much of London in their sights, with violence and misery their calling cards. The Met Police are confronting them fiercely and rescuing hundreds of kids from their dreadful clutches. Over 7,400 arrests and 1,500 county lines shut show these gangs are on the run, and we will back the police all the way.”
The Method Behind the Success
Operation Yamata combines Specialist Crime officers’ expertise with local knowledge to map drug lines through communications data and user engagement, resulting in fast enforcement. This approach follows the successful Orochi blueprint, which targets ‘line holders’—the bosses running the dealer networks.
Operation Orochi boasts some impressive stats:
- 90% arrest and charge rates
- 85% early guilty pleas
- 95% conviction rate
Two-thirds of Orochi suspects had previous links to violence, underlining the deadly connection between drug supply and crime.
Fighting Both Supply and Demand
The Met is also tackling drug addiction through support programmes like Project Adder. McNulty said only by hitting both demand and supply “can we make a real difference” in London’s fight against drugs and violence.
With Operation Yamata ramping up the pressure, London’s drug dealers face an unrelenting crackdown—because the Met won’t rest until every line is closed. The early hours are no longer safe for criminals running the city’s deadly drug trade.
