MORE than 40 homes have been raided in seven months on Blackbird Leys as police tackle the Oxford estate’s “drug issue”.

Between March and September, officers swooped on 42 premises across Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys after residents complained that dealing was rife.

Police say the street value of the seizures was more than £50,000. That included a £13,000 haul of crack cocaine, dozens of bags of cannabis, cash, an illegal pepper spray and a crossbow.

In the same period last year, officers raided about 10 properties.

Insp Andy Storey said: “It started in March with a large operation with 70 officers executing 12 warrants over two days.

“Since then we’ve done about 30 more spread across big areas, all in connection with Class A and B drugs.

“We’ve had a several successes in terms of recovering drugs and a significant amount of cash. In the vast majority of premises we found drugs.

“I would be surprised if there is any other neighbourhood team in the force as busy as this one has been.

“Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys does have a drug issue and it’s one of our neighbourhood priorities – that’s what the residents are telling us about, so we are acting on it and putting the dealers out of business.”

Mr Storey said the increase in raids was due to more people reporting suspicious activity and officers being proactive. He added: “I don’t think the problem is getting worse.

“I think people are getting better at telling us about suspicious activity.”

Last night, residents and community leaders backed police in their fight against drug crime.

Mother-of-four Gillian Woodley, 25, of Cherry Close, Blackbird Leys, said: “I can’t say I’ve noticed the raids, but it doesn’t surprise me.

“It’s definitely good because where we live has an awful reputation and it’s people like druggies that give it a bad name.”

Gerry Webb, chairman of Blackbird Leys Parish Council, said: “The more raids the merrier. They are not going to solve the whole problem, but the more they do, the sooner it will go away.”

Mr Storey said the challenge was tackling dealers doing business inside properties rather than out on the street.

He said: “There is still drug dealing going on, but it’s becoming more covert.

“When I took over this job we were inundated with reports of quite overt dealing and that has gone.

“What we’ve done is driven the dealers away to more covert stuff.

“A lot of it is inside properties now.”

Police rely on the public reporting suspicious activity to help them build up intelligence in the fight against drugs.

Anyone with information about drug dealing should call police on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Thames Valley Police was last night unable to confirm how many people had been arrested, charged and subsequently convicted following the raids.

eallen@oxfordmail.co.uk