A MACHETE along with a small quantity of drugs has been recovered following a drugs warrant in Wem.

Tuesday morning West Mercia Police attended an address in Wem to execute the warrant on the back of information received from the public.

Thanks to the information provided, police officers were able to do some on the ground investigations and were able to obtain a warrant.

Following on from this, a raid on the property obtained a small amount of drugs and a large machete.

Inspector Tracy Ryan from West Mercia Police says it is vital to let the public know about operations such as this, with the ‘you say we did’ tagline.

The sensitive nature of some operations means the police can not always share the outcome, but when possible the results are shared online to fully emphasize to the public the work the police do.

“We try to tell the public as much as possible what we are doing although we can’t say some stuff until afterwards,” said Insp Ryan.

“Sometimes we deploy a covert asset so we can’t always say what an outcome is.

“‘You say we did’ is to tell the public that we do listen to them when they come to us.

“It is to acknowledge the impact coming to us has on what we do.

“If someone is concerned about their area we can deploy intelligence and speak to informants.

“It is absolutely effective. Members of the public see stuff more regularly.

“A lot of the work we do is on the back of information supplied to us by the public. We can’t always say what we did as sometimes information is quite sensitive.”

Insp Ryan emphasized that the recent operation was not related to any recent County Lines operations within the county and was just street level crime as opposed to a larger county wide operation.

Meanwhile, also on Tuesday a man from Whitchurch was arrested, charged and remanded in custody in relation to theft, theft from motor vehicle and burglary offences occurring overnight on Monday in the area.

Also on Tuesday a van was seized in Whitchurch after the driver was found to have no licence or insurance.