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Highland Police Scotland stop-and-search officers recover stolen property and drugs over six month period during operations in Badenoch and Strathspey





Police conducted numerous stops-and-searches over the six month period (stock image).
Police conducted numerous stops-and-searches over the six month period (stock image).

Police stop-and-search operations in Badenoch & Strathspey recovered Class A and B drugs as well as stolen property.

The figures came to light after Police Scotland published figures for the first six months of the current financial year - covering April to September 2024. The data was part of the force’s year-to-date progress report for the second quarter of the fiscal year.

During the six-month window police in Badenoch and Strathspey carried out 19 stops, six of which were positive. Of those, one found Class A drugs, four recorded Class B and the remaining one was for stolen property.

These figures came against a backdrop of 518 stop-and-search procedures being carried out across the whole of the Highland Council area during the same six month period. Of those, almost 230 were positive.

The biggest number of searches were carried out in wards in and around Inverness.

Officers in the Highland capital carried out almost 250 stop-and-search procedures - some of which were warrants.

More than half of all those searches were positive - with 46 incidents of Class A drug possession recorded, 63 Class B and a dozen Class C. Some of these were from the same search.

Six bladed weapons and one 'blunt instrument' were also detected, as too was one firearm - the latter of which was recovered during execution of a warrant.

Seven detections of stolen property, five incidents involving 'disposals of cash' and two 'other' detections were also made.#

In terms of the drug detections, these involved a number of ages - although the youngest spotted carrying Class A narcotics were as young as 17, while youths as young as 14 and 15 were detected carrying Class B drugs.

There were also 10 stop-and-search incidents in the Nairn and Cawdor ward during the same six months, of which two were positive - resulting in one incident of Class A drug possession, and one unspecified ‘other’ detection.

In Ross & Cromarty 115 stop-and-search procedures were conducted, with 39 coming back positive. Of those, 10 featured Class A narcotics, 32 had Class B and a further two were for Class C. Some of these were from the same search.

One search resulted in a bladed weapon being recovered, while another unrelated detection was just labelled as ‘other’ in the statistics.

Several of those detected with Class B drugs were in their teens, with one as young as 16.

Elsewhere in the north, police carried out 81 stop-and-search procedures on people of all ages in Caithness, of which 32 yielded positive results. In Sutherland there were 11 stops, of which six proved positive.

Of those combined detections, seven related to Class A narcotic possession, 25 were found with Class B drugs and two had Class C.

In one search a 14-year-old boy was found with Class B drugs, while in another unrelated search a 14-year-old girl was spotted carrying a weapon, which was described by police as a “blunt instrument”.

Spirits were also detected on three underage teens.




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