BY MARK McKELVEY
A LARGE quantity of illegal drugs was seized and two people arrested during a major police drug bust operation on the Gortin Road in Omagh on Saturday night.
Police made two arrests for alleged drugs offences and seized 35 Ecstasy tablets during a search of a bus on the Gortin Road, while 82 tablets were found on another bus and two grammes of herbal cannabis were found on a third. All the buses travelled to the venue from outside the Omagh area.
In the same operation and in the same area, an 18-year-old man from Dunmurray was arrested on suspicion of possession of Ecstasy with intent to supply and possession of a class C drug. A short time later, an 18-year-old man from Poleglass was arrested for alleged possession of Ecstasy tablets. Both will be reported to the Public Prosecuting Service.
A police spokesman said the operation underlined the commitment of local police to tackling the drugs issue.
"It is clear from the operation that dangerous drugs are being brought into the area from other parts of the province. We will carry out further operations to detect drugs dealers and disrupt their illegal trade," said the spokesperson.
"Young people must be aware of the dangers. Tragically, this area has previously experienced the ultimate dangers posed by so-called 'recreational drugs' such as Ecstasy."
Reacting to this drug bust of 117 ecstasy tablets and quantity of cannabis, community development worker with the nearby Strathroy Community Association, Mickey Kelly has welcomed this drugs seizure and called for police action to continue.
"The community association have had concerns for some time concerning the awful knock-on effect on the local community on the nights of these raves. The problems occur more when these rave nights are on, as the other days there is less trouble," said the community worker.
"This only feeds the younger people that are unfortunately addicted to drugs. These raves are attracting unsavoury characters from other parts of the North who are bringing drugs with them," said Mr Kelly.
"We welcome the seizure of these drugs and hopefully now the police will continue in this stringent approach, as we have been making the point for years that the police were lackadaisical concerning drugs.
"The youth drink and drug culture is becoming the scourge of our society and getting out of hand altogether."
