Liverpool man suspected of leading a drugs trafficking operation was arrested after he flew into Luton from Dubai

Liverpool man suspected of leading a drugs trafficking operation was arrested at a UK airport.Three men from Bootle were also today being questioned by police in connection with a drugs plot.Armed police swooped at six addresses in Liverpool and Sefton yesterday after search warrants were executed.Police confirmed the three men from Bootle were being questioned at police stations in Merseyside. They said one man was aged 57 and another 40, but did not reveal the age of the third man.The raids followed the earlier arrest of a Merseyside man, 39, who was detained by officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency.
They held him after he flew into Luton from Dubai yesterday.Police believe he is the ringleader of an organised criminal gang which they have been tracking for 12 months.
He was seized by police on suspicion of drugs trafficking and false identity offences.His arrest gave the green light for a series of raids across Liverpool and Sefton.Addresses in Bootle, Litherland, Crosby and Kirkdale were visited by armed police as stunned locals looked on.One woman told how officers smashed down the front door of a house in Enstone Avenue, Litherland, before raiding the house.
She said: “The front door was damaged and there were police cars and vans on the street. Everyone asking what’s been going on.”