Raids target new wave of drug dealers in Fraserburgh and Peterhead

Police have carried out a series of raids as an Aberdeenshire fishing town once dubbed "Scotland's drug capital" faces a new wave of dealers.

Fraserburgh - plagued by heroin in the 1990s - is facing what officers describe as an "influx of dealers" from the north west of England.

About 20 people have been arrested so far in the ongoing operation.

Police say dealers are using vulnerable people to supply drugs in what is known as "cuckooing".

In the late 1990s, Fraserburgh gained the unenviable reputation of Scotland's drugs capital.

Heroin arrived in the town before it spread elsewhere because people had money to spend, thanks largely due to wealth that came with a successful fishing industry.

That also meant there was not as much associated crime.

Crack cocaine also took a heavy toll on the town's young population, many away for days at a time at sea, spending their wages on drugs once back ashore.

Now, the so-called cuckooing involves the targeting of individuals with substance misuse and mental health problems by dealers, who can use their homes as a base to distribute drugs.

Police began a 10-week intelligence-led operation, culminating in a series of raids and operations in the Fraserburgh and Peterhead areas in recent days.

The operation is targeting the activities of predominantly English-based organised crime groups (OCGs), who are believed to be responsible for the influx of drugs into the north east of Scotland.

Det Ch Insp Lorna Ferguson said: "We will not tolerate individuals (drug dealers) coming into this area, we'll take action against them and we'll continue to proactively target them and make it a hostile environment for them."

She also gave a commitment to breaking the cycle of substance misuse by offering additional support to those taken into custody.

Vanessa Case, a substance misuse worker in Fraserburgh, has seen first hand the impact of drugs in her town.

She said: "A number of our clients who all went to school together will tell us about photographs that they've had of their classes and a few of them have said I'm the only person left alive from that picture.

"That's the impact that the drugs have had on the local community over those years.

"It's incredibly sad to think that that level of attrition has happened in a community that's so tight-knit."

Ms Case fears that if education around drug misuse does not improve, the next generation could face a similar level of tragedy.

At the scene of one of the raids, a neighbour told BBC Scotland: "I will get so much relief and sleep, I've got a young loon [son]. He's on drugs as well, I think he's off it just now, but this has been hell.

"Drugs has a hold on this town just now, it really does, you are afraid to go out your front door.

"I feel scared, anxious, I don't sleep. The problem is getting worse in this area."

Brian Topping has been a councillor in Fraserburgh for more than 30 years, and does not think the town deserved its reputation 20 years ago.

He explained: "I think that was grossly unfair.

"I think the good thing about Fraserburgh is that they actually put their hands up and said look we actually do recognise we have a problem here with drugs and we want to do something about it.

"Fraserburgh is like anywhere else, every town or village no matter how small or large, they all have drugs issues."

Police Scotland said significant high-profile activity would continue to take place across the area over the next two weeks.