DRUGS have been seized and a series of arrests made in a busy first week for Wiltshire Police’s new Fortitude squad.

The team was launched on Monday and is made up of 34 officers already working on the community tasking and dedicated crime teams – respectively responsible for locking up burglars and drug dealers.

Arrests were made for burglary and robbery this week and stolen vehicles were recovered.

Det Insp Angela Shipp, who leads the Swindon Fortitude team, said: “This week has seen a really positive start to the Fortitude Team arresting numerous offenders in both Swindon and Wiltshire.

“Those we have targeted reflect those who cause the most harm in our communities exploiting children and vulnerable people through county lines gangs. We have also undertaken numerous positive warrants at locations across Wiltshire where suspects have been using addresses in the community to deal class A and B drugs and removed thousands of pounds of drugs that were destined for the streets.

“We have arrested individuals for burglary and robbery offences and recovered high value stolen vehicles by being able to deploy quickly as a team.

“Let us be clear with this message, we are determined to tackle persistent offenders who have such an impact on our communities, our children and vulnerable people.

“The Fortitude team has worked extremely hard to achieve these results and we will strive to build on these over the coming weeks and months.”