Irish held in £100m drugs sting

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A number of Irish people have been arrested in England as part of an operation aimed at "dismantling" a £100m drugs trafficking operation.

About 500 police officers were involved in raids on 30 addresses in London and the Home Counties which they say were linked to a cocaine and cannabis ring.

A total of 22 people were arrested.Scotland Yard said the raids stemmed from a six-month inquiry.

Police said those involved were also from London, Israel and Iraq.

At a house in Hayes, west London, a police driver used a digger to break through the brick and steel perimeter wall shortly after 0500 GMT.

Dozens of officers using sledgehammers and angle grinders burst into the house seconds later.

Two men were arrested and several vehicles, including two Mercedes, a Hummer and a four-wheel drive Porsche parked outside were seized.

At another address in East Molesey, 30 officers burst into a house and searched two cars outside. A 53-year-old man of Egyptian origin was arrested.

Detectives said they believed a business had been used as a front for a "massive criminal enterprise" which involved laundering money from the proceeds of trafficking in cocaine and cannabis.

Detective Inspector Martin Ford said the gang used a small number of bureaux de change to launder their money.