DRUG-BUSTING teams which operate from stations across Essex are set to be disbanded.
The plain-clothed officers who raid cannabis factories and seize hauls of cocaine and ecstasy will be replaced by a team of officers, possibly based in Boreham.
The new county-wide team will consist of 80 officers and police divisions across Essex. It will replace teams in south Essex, which are based at Leigh, Southend, Rochford, Castle Point and Shoebury. Some of its recent successes include the seizure of four kilos of cocaine and 5,000 ecstasy tablets from a house in Eastern Avenue, Southend, and the discovery of a steroids factory in Thornford Gardens, Southend.
In south-west Essex the unit is called the tactical team, which raided the Queensgate Centre, in Grays High Street, in February, in search of stolen goods and counterfeit items. Its counterpart in Colchester is the Neighbourhood Enforcement Team, which raided two houses in George Williams Way and Waterside Lane earlier this month and seized drugs, electronic equipment and a chainsaw.
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