31 arrests, 25 drug lines closed and deadly weapons taken off the streets by region's major crime team

In the last six weeks, the team at West Midlands Police have seized four guns, including a revolver from a car parked in the Quinton area of Birmingham which led to arrests and charges of two people.

On October 3, firearms officers stopped a car at gunpoint on the A34 Walsall Road in the city and recovered a shotgun in a bag on the back seat.

One man was charged and remanded in custody.

The team launched 13 manhunts – searches for criminals wanted for the most serious crimes including murder – and found them all.

Other successes included the arrest of a man and charge of a man in his 30s in Oldbury, who police believed was a "significant figure in drugs supply in the area".

In Small Heath, officers spotted a man known to have links to organised crime groups driving while disqualified.

They pulled him over and found a loaded revolver.

He was charged with possession of the firearm and returned to prison to serve the remainder of an earlier sentence which he had been released early from.

The team also uncovered 10 more sexual predators through its online undercover work to target paedophiles who arrange to meet children to sexually abuse them.

And it launched a dedicated operation to target drug dealers inflicting misery on the area.

In July and August, the team closed down 25 drug lines – five of those were believed to be supplying drugs to some people who died as a result of suspected overdoses.

A total of 31 people were arrested and 28 were charged, including six said to be members of organised crime groups and 10 who were classed as dangerous because of their links to guns or violence.

Drugs worth more than £60,000 were seized, along with nearly £200,000 in cash and six firearms.

Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Drover, head of major crime, said: “Tackling those who cause the most harm to communities is an absolutely priority for us.

“We’ve got a laser focus on targeting organised crime groups involved in drugs, guns, criminal cash, which all cause really significant harm to our communities.

“The fact that we are succeeding in recovering cash, drugs and guns means we are causing significant disruption to those organised crime groups, and protecting some really vulnerable people.

“We wouldn’t have the success that we do without information from the public. I’d urge anyone who has information about those involved in serious and organised crime to get in touch so that we can take action to protect the public.”

People can get in touch via live chat on the West Midlands Police website, via 101 or by calling Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.