MORE than 800 kilograms of drugs were seized and over 500 arrests were made by the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) last year.

Responsible for tackling serious and organised crime across the region NWROCU manage the threat posed from crime such as firearms supply, county drugs lines, child sexual exploitation, cybercrime and slavery.

Working with forces across the North West, the team have secured jail sentences of more than 1,800 years, recovered around 40 guns and seized 791kg of Class A drugs and 43kg of cannabis.

More than £1.5 million has also been confiscated by the unit from convicted criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Head of the Regional Organised Crime Unit Tony Creely said: “It’s been a really successful year for the North West ROCU in our fight against serious and organised crime across the region.

“We exist to tackle and take down the most serious, hardened and organised criminals who pose the more serious threat to our communities.

"Thanks to the hard work of our officers, officers within the North West police forces and partner agencies, a large number of prolific criminals will be spending Christmas behind bars and we’ve taken a significant quantities of drugs and illegal firearms off the streets.

“We’re looking forward to continuing our mission to protect the communities within the North West from serious and organised crime in 2019.”