UPDATE: Three men charged with drugs offences after crack cocaine seized from Whitton pub raid

Police seized drugs including crack cocaine from a Whitton pub in a raid that involved nine arrests before Christmas.

LAST MONTH: "Machine gun", drugs and cash seized by police at Twickenham Riverside

Officers and a dog support unit raided the Duke of York pub in Hanworth Road on Friday, December 18, and arrested eight men and one woman.

Substances thought to be cocaine, crack cocaine and cannabis were seized inside the pub and have been sent for testing.

Two men were charged with possession of class A substances, one man with possession with intent to supply, three men were bailed for possession with intent to supply and one woman was arrested and bailed.

The pub was closed temporarily by the licensee but is now open.

Richmond’s borough commander, Colin Kennedy, said: “We are pleased with the success of this operation and the arrests and drugs seizures it has resulted in.

“If the police and the communities can continue to work in this way, hopefully we can achieve the goal of making Richmond-Upon-Thames one of the safest boroughs in London.”

 

 

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Councillor for Whitton Grant Healy said this was not the sort of thing one would expect to see in Whitton.

He said: "I am glad the people responsible have been caught and I hope they are made a suitable example of.

"This is hopefully an isolated incident and Whitton does not have a wider drug problem. It should not give the impression Whitton isn’t a pleasant place to live because that would not be accurate."

A spokesperson from The Spirit Pub Company, which manages the Duke of York, said: “We are open and trading as normal.

"We have been working closely with the Police to support their on-going investigations following their visit on December 18.”