Thirty people locked up as Galaxy strikes

Update from Humberside Police:

 A number of early morning wake up calls and afternoon knocks across the Humberside Force area took place yesterday (Tuesday, 6 October), as Operation Galaxy maximised their resources and executed various warrants across East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire where suspected criminal activity was believed to be taking place.

With three warrants in Hull, two in Beverley, one in Goole, one in Scunthorpe and two in Grimsby, policing teams and departments all part of Op Galaxy have all been involved in collating information and evidence to secure the warrants through court and take action, in a bid to make communities safer and a hostile and difficult place for criminals to operate in.

As a result, 30 people have been arrested, 14 in North and North East Lincs and 16 in East Yorkshire and Hull, for a range of offences from drugs offences, grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm assaults, attempted rape, sexual assault, theft and failure to appear at court.

In addition to the arrests, 39 cannabis plants have been seized with an approximate street value of around £30,000, two imitation firearms, two swords and other offensive weapons including a Taser recovered, drug dealing paraphernalia located and seized, over £2000 in cash discovered and a quantity of mobile phones that will now be analysed.

Chief Superintendent Darren Downs said: “The Op Galaxy Team launched 12-months ago in October last year, with the main aim of taking proactive action against criminal activity and to make our communities safer.

“We made the decision to expand the team for a five-week period of intensified action at the end of May this year, and to utilise more resources from across the force, including CID teams, patrol, Neighbourhood Policing Teams, Protecting Vulnerable People unit, Roads Policing, police dogs, firearms, Marine unit, Major Crime, intell and economic crime.

“Robust plans were implemented with the remit of the team on specific areas of crime, with a focus on burglary, robbery and theft, often referred to as “Serious Acquisitive Crime”, protecting vulnerable people by targeting sexual offenders and perpetrators of domestic abuse and disrupting and dismantling Organised Crime Groups linked to drugs supply and county lines.

“Due to the success of the first five weeks, whereby 640 arrests were made and more than 200 people were charged with various offences, we continued with the Galaxy plans throughout the summer and into the Autumn, with action continuing to take place on a regular basis.

“However, we also wanted to really make an impact and deliver a clear message across the entire Force area, with a day of intensive and comprehensive action simultaneously taking place throughout our counties, to highlight clearly to anyone involved in criminality that they will not be able to operate in our area, and that concentrated action has now taken place.”

Since Tuesday 26 May when the expanded Op Galaxy Team launched, to date, the results have included:

1150 arrests for various offences including drugs, robbery, burglary, sexual offences and theft
187 warrants executed at properties across East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire
431 people charged with crimes and currently going through the court process
£4.5 million (street value) of drugs seized include cocaine, heroin and cannabis
Numerous weapons seized including a Hand Gun, Shot Gun, air rifle, Tasers, Imitation weapons, PAVA Spray, four Knuckle Dusters, six Bladed weapons, machete and an axe
Approximately £140,000 in cash recovered

Ch Supt Downs continued: “We have been unrelenting in our pursuit of targeting those who bring misery and distress to our communities and the results we have seen support our efforts to tackle all types of criminality in our area.

“Additional high visibility patrols have also been conducted throughout the summer months in hot spot areas where we know criminality can occur, with over 2,000 stop searches being carried out and action taking place to locate and arrest outstanding suspects.

 “Many of the cases are currently going through the criminal justice system and court process after suspects have been arrested and charged, but the work undertaken by the teams involved in Op Galaxy has been exemplary with commitment and dedication from every single person involved, either frontline or behind the scenes.

“We are taking control of our streets and roads, making the lives of criminals and predators difficult and uncomfortable. We are a force on the front foot and we determined and committed in tackling criminality across the Humberside force area, to ensure you feel safe and protected, as that will always be our main priority.”