Heroin dealers hounded out of Belfast are attempting to set up new networks in other parts of Northern Ireland, it was revealed today.
Detective Superintendent Judith Gillespie, head of the Police Service's Drugs Squad, warned pushers have relocated following a major crackdown in areas where they were already established.
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With Strabane under threat of becoming the next drugs hotbed, police have intensified efforts to smash the ring before it takes grip of the Co Tyrone town. Ms Gillespie said: "We're letting these individuals know we're onto them."
Police scored a stunning success earlier this year when 16 people were arrested and charged during Operation Galiot, the biggest-ever heroin swoop mounted in Northern Ireland.
Hundreds of officers took part in raids in south Belfast and Ballymena - the Co Antrim town widely regarded as the drugs capital of the North. But up to 10 people who escaped arrest during the February raids are still at large.
Police believe those who didn't travel to England and Scotland are now at large in Strabane.
Concerns grew after a south Belfast man who fled following Operation Galiot was arrested and heroin seized during planned searches in the Co Tyrone town last week. "The last thing we want is a seat of heroin established in Strabane," the Drugs Squad chief said.
Although pushers have also moved in on Belfast and north Down, Ballymena still has a notorious reputation. But Ms Gillespie stressed Operation Galiot has had a major impact.
In the month following the swoops robberies, burglaries and thefts in the town dropped by 17 per cent.
Though she stressed CID and uniformed officers have also played a big part, she insisted that the reduction was no coincidence.
"Galiot will not solve the heroin problem in Northern Ireland, but I'm convinced it has had a massive effect on crime in Ballymena," she said.
PA