POLICE POUNCE: £16,000 in cash and 31,000 cigarettes seized during arrest in Hemel Hempstead

More than £16,000 in cash and over 30,000 cigarettes were seized after Operation Scorpion officers arrested a man in Hemel Hempstead.

A 31 year old man from Hemel Hempstead was arrested on suspicion of possession of Class A drugs (cocaine), profiting from or concealing knowledge of proceeds of crime, handling stolen goods and criminal damage. He has been released under investigation while enquiries continue. 

The arrest occurred just after 1.30pm on Monday, November 30, after officers from the borough’s Operation Scorpion team responded to a call from a member of the public reporting suspicious activity in the Boxmoor area.

They located a vehicle, an Audi A6, in Wrensfield which they believed to be involved so they followed it to The Farthings where it came to a stop. 

Officers parked behind it with the intention of getting out and speaking to the driver.

However before they had a chance the vehicle reversed into the unmarked police car.

They quickly detained the driver and searched the car, where they found £14,100 cash inside.

Officers also searched a Boxmoor address where they recovered a further £2,000 in cash along with 1,550 packets of cigarettes – equivalent to 31,000 individual cigarettes. The cash, cigarettes and car were all seized as part of the investigation.

Sergeant James Bessant said: “The team acted on information given to us by a sharp-eyed member of the public who called it in when they thought something wasn’t quite right.

“We’d like to publicly thank them, as due to their actions we have managed to intercept Class A drugs, suspected stolen goods and proceeds of crime from making it to the streets of Hemel Hempstead.”

If you have any information about suspected criminality in your neighbourhood, you can report it online at herts.police.uk/report, talk to one of the Force Communication Room operators via web chat at herts.police.uk/contact, or call the non-emergency number 101.

Alternatively you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or visit their website crimestoppers-uk.org.