CCTV surveillance camera. Pic: StockSnap
The Metropolitan Police have arrested five suspects in a drugs operation in Tower Hamlets using the council’s CCTV surveillance footage in Spitalfields and Whitechapel yesterday.
Staff at the council’s monitoring centre on the Isle of Dogs alerted police of three cars which were spotted in a suspected drug deal during the last weekend.
The car, a silver Mercedes, was seen in Spital Street at 4pm on Saturday. The suspects then drove off towards Commercial Street.
They then turned back into Hanbury Street and stopped in Casson Street where a second deal was said to have been witnessed.
The car then headed towards Vallance Road where a third deal was believed to be witnessed before it drove onto Whitechapel Road when a passenger was seen getting out and speeding to the A&E at Royal London Hospital.
The vehicle was stopped and officers detained a man and seized a quantity of cash. Three people were arrested on suspicion of supplying drugs.
CCTV footage revealed suspects in a Peugeot apparently ‘dealing’ in Lomas Street three hours before the arrests took place.
The description was circulated and police caught up with the car heading towards Whitechapel Road where it was stopped opposite Booth House. One man was arrested for breaching bail conditions.
The arrests follow an operation 24 hours earlier when CCTV staff had spotted a blue Ford suspected of drug dealing.
The car was followed towards Commercial Street where a suspected drug user was seen running up to it in Lamb Street, opposite Spitalfields Market.
Police followed it to Fieldgate Street where it sped away. The vehicle was eventually stopped by traffic police in Backchurch Lane, where the driver was arrested after failing a roadside drugs test.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police told Eastlondonlines: “The CCTV control centre is always running. We use it for back-up and to help us build important cases..”
“CCTV is integral in the drug operations we carry out. We have made similar arrests over the last few months by reviewing and analysing footage for evidence.”
