'The smell in the town centre is pungent. People don't realise they're funding organised crime'

Wales Online

02-07-2025

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A police panel heard how residents in Ruthin complain of pungent cannabis smoke in the streets, with the drug blamed for financing serious, organised crime. Speaking at a North Wales Police and Crime Panel meeting, North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Andy Dunbobbin gave an update at Conwy 's Coed Pella HQ.
The panel was updated on various police developments by the crime commissioner, which included Project Draig, a campaign 'raising awareness and capturing the response to SOC (serious and organised crime)'. But meeting chairwoman Patricia Astbury spoke on the subject and said she was 'frustrated' by cannabis users, whom she accused of funding serious and organised crime through drug use.
Ms Astbury also used the streets of Ruthin as an example of how 'pungent' the smell of the drug is in some North Wales towns. 'I don't think communities out there really understand how this SOC (serious and organised crime) can impact upon our lives,' she said. Sign up for the North Wales Live newslettersent twice daily to your inbox.
'It is Insidious, isn't it, what happens? And I listen, and I don't get why they don't understand how, for example, cannabis - the use of cannabis – that's all connected, isn't it? And that just seems to be an accepted part of life now, that you can go down a street, and you hear people in Ruthin saying the smell of cannabis is strong.'
(Image: Andy Dunbobbin)
She added: 'I know local policing are doing something about that. They've just done an exercise in the south of the county, haven't they, where you started off in Ruthin, and that was one of the things people were saying. 'You walk up the streets and the smell is pungent.' And people just don't understand the impact when they are using cannabis, for example, that they are actually funding serious, organised crime eventually. I know it is a small thing, but I get cross sometimes. Why don't you understand what you're doing? It is frustrating.'
Mr Dunbobbin responded: 'Not long after the results of the election last year, and I was spoken to by various media outlets. They said, 'What is your main priority for North Wales?' And my answer was serious, organised crime because everything else intrinsically links into that, with so many things, so many different strands. I know that is really much a priority of this force, with the chief constable there.'
'We've got Operation Draig (Project Draig), isn't it, chief? So there is a real emphasis on tackling that issue.'
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