‘Don’t turn a blind eye’ say police as crime blitz launched in Newmarket

A police crackdown on crime in Newmarket has seen nearly 30 people arrested for supplying cocaine, three organised criminal gangs operating in the town targeted and a brothel in Exning Road closed.

The actions by Suffolk Police were the first stage of a special initiative called Newmarket Together and will now be followed by the involvement of community organisations and residents which was officially launched at the town’s leisure centre on Tuesday.

“The idea of the first enforcement phase, which began in September, was to focus on a particular area, in this case George Lambton Avenue, Exning Road and Icewell Hill and clear it of serious and organised crime,” said Inspector Tim Scott, locality inspector.

“Once it was clear, then we work to stabilise the area to keep the criminals out and invite our community partners to work with us. These include immigration officers, trading standards, housing officers, West Suffolk Council and CrimeStoppers.”

He said during the enforcement stage police had identified three criminal gangs, two local to the area and a third infiltrating the town from outside.

“Since September we have arrested 28 people involved in the supply of drugs in Newmarket predominantly cocaine,” said Insp Scott, who added that charges had been brought and some were now serving prison terms.

He said one of the gangs involved had been exploiting children with two juveniles believed to have been involved in drug running.

The police had also focused on tackling modern slavery and as part of the operation had closed down a brothel in Exning Road.

“Of course we will continue our enforcement work but want to encourage the community to take their areas back and work with us to keep these criminals out,” he said. “We would ask people not to turn a blind eye.”

He said he hoped the community groups would meet monthly.