A man has been charged with drug offences in connection to a multi-agency investigation set up to tackle county lines operations.

County lines refers to drug-dealers from urban areas such as London, who turn to ply their trade in more rural places.

Suffolk officers from the Serious Crime Disruption Team together with the Metropolitan police have arrested the man in London in connection with drug supply offences.

The arrest made on Thursday, August 20 follows on from other arrests made in connection with Operation Orochi – an operation set up by Suffolk Constabulary with the Met Police to tackle county lines drug-dealing between London and Suffolk.

Ronnie Downes, 21, of Winterbourne Road in Dagenham was subsequently charged with two counts of being concerned in the supplying of class A drugs between December 1 2019 and July 27 2020.

He was remanded to appear before Suffolk Magistrates’ Court in Ipswich at 10am on Saturday, August 22.

Operation Orochi, led by the Metropolitan Police, has been in place in Suffolk since February 2020.

It focuses on analysing the data of mobile phones used to buy and sell crack cocaine and heroin by dealers and controllers.

Officers from the team in Suffolk will share this intelligence with a dedicated team at the Met, who will then investigate to identify the line controller and their location.