Nine people charged following drugs raids in Chester and Merseyside

Nine people have been charged with class A drug dealing offences after police carried out a series of dawn raids at homes in Chester and Merseyside

Officers executed warrants at four addresses in Chester, six in Liverpool and one in St Helens yesterday, Thursday 25 April, as part of Cheshire Constabulary’s ongoing fight against county lines drug dealing.

The Operation Wagtail raids followed a complex, covert, six-month long investigation into the supply of heroin and crack cocaine from Merseyside to Chester.

The investigation has been conducted by Chester Local Policing Unit (LPU), which organised and co-ordinated the raids.

They were carried out by 44 officers, including six from Merseyside Police.

Eight men, aged between 24 and 54, and a 26-year-old woman have subsequently been charged with conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

The men – five from Chester, two from Liverpool and one from St Helens – and the woman from Liverpool have all been remanded in custody to appear at Crewe Magistrates’ Court today, Friday 26 April.