Drugs and cash seized with man charged after Rotherham house raid

Drugs and wads of cash have been seized by officers and a man has been arrested after a warrant was executed at a Rotherham house as part of Operation Sceptre.

Acting on intelligence, a group of officers searched a property in Goosebutt Street, off Parkgate, last Tuesday (14 November). Inside, they found around £1,000 in cash stuffed under a sofa with quantities of drugs also seized.

Officers discovered 1.5 ounces of cannabis, worth an estimated £330, inside the house, as well as hundreds of pounds worth of Butane Hash Oil (BHO) - a concentrated extraction of cannabis that is incredibly potent.

A 59-year-old man has since been charged with possession of a controlled Class B drug. Michael Parkin, of Goosebutt Street, has been released on bail and is set to appear before Sheffield Magistrates' Court on January 3, 2024.

Operation Sceptre is a national week-long campaign to tackle knife crime that supports the work we do all year round to combat violent crime across South Yorkshire. It ran from Monday 13 November to Sunday 19 November and saw warrants executed, stop and searches carried out and a host of other activities take place.

Detective Sergeant Matthew Barnes said: "This warrant was intelligence led and has enabled us to take harmful drugs out of circulation.

"This activity shows that we do act upon intelligence and concerns raised to us by members of the public and that we will take action.

"We are constantly seeking out proactive opportunities to disrupt criminality, particularly around the supply and distribution of drugs, and also around dangerous weapons which are often linked to drug supply.

"We know drugs ruin local communities and can leave people feeling safe in their own homes. This is something we will not tolerate and we would encourage anyone with concerns to get in touch with us either via 101, speak to us while we’re out and about, or speak to Crimestoppers anonymously.

“We will always act on any information passed to us, like in this case, which has resulted in drugs being removed from the streets of Rotherham."

A warrant was carried out at an address in Rotherham as part of Operation Sceptre