Officers from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU), working with local police, yesterday carried out a series of warrants in Bucks, London and Kent.
Dawn raids were carried out in 13 different locations across High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, London and Kent.
SEROCU officers working in partnership with local police, including Thames Valley Police for Milton Keynes, arrested seven people on suspicion of a range of serious offences. These offences included conspiracy to supply class A drugs and conspiracy to supply firearms.
It has not been revealed how many arrests were made in Milton Keynes.
This series of warrants comes following an operation that took place in July this year, which was led by the National Crime Agency (NCA) working in partnership with every Regional Organised Crime Unit and police force in the UK. Overseas law enforcement agencies were also involved.
This operation saw a huge breakthrough in the fight against serious and organised crime, after the takedown of a bespoke encrypted global communication service used exclusively by criminals.
Thousands of handsets have been monitored, millions of messages have been analysed and intelligence gathered across the country and overseas has revealed the illicit activity of people using this system around the world.
Assistant Chief Constable Pete O’Doherty, South East Regional Lead for Serious Organised Crime, said: "Back in July I warned that work was continuing to track criminals that may have felt untouchable, using a system they thought was under the radar of law enforcement, but the technology is being used against them.
"Today, this operation demonstrates that this work never stops and SEROCU, along with all our partners, will continue to pursue those who are involved in serious and organised crime.
"There is nowhere to hide.
"I’d like to take a moment to thank the officers and staff from across SEROCU and our local forces, who have been involved in this operation today.
"We will keep working tirelessly to disrupt this criminality and bring those found to be involved to justice.”
