Wuff justice as police dog sniffs out drugs runner's Northumberland cocaine and heroin stash

Michael Young was snared when the Renault Clio he was a passenger in was stopped on the A189 Spine Road, in Northumberland, as part of a crackdown into serious and organised crime.

Officers had been gathering intelligence on a number of individuals suspected to be involved in drug dealing and as part of their ongoing work they had identified a number of vehicles believed to be using the road network for criminality.

Once the car was stopped, Kipper, from Northumbria Police’s K9 unit, was tasked with following his nose and it didn’t take long before officers from the force’s Op Dragoon team found a quantity of cocaine and heroin in Young’s possession.

The 38-year-old criminal, a prior suspect as part of the operation, was immediately arrested alongside the 37-year-old driver and the 30-year-old back-seat passenger.

Young, of no fixed address, has now appeared at Newcastle Crown Court to admit possession with intent to supply heroin, cocaine and possession of diamorphine on April 23.

He was jailed for 33 months and a forfeiture and destruction order was issued.

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Constable Laura Fairley said: “This case is a great example of what can be achieved when the various teams from within the force work together and I’d like to thank everyone involved for their hard work.

“We know the lengths people like Young will go to, to try and make money and keep their illicit businesses running, which is why we continue to do all that we can to disrupt this type of criminality from policing our road networks, to carrying out surveillance and intelligence gathering to using our incredible sniffer dogs to help us take swift action.

“We will continue this work under the banner of Operation Sentinel and would ask anyone with information about criminality to get in touch.”

The other two men - aged 37 and 30 - have since been released under investigation pending further inquiries.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper.

If you can, please do pick up a copy when you are at the shops. Thank you for your support.