A major six-month Kingston police drugs operation resulted in just 15 convictions – despite officers making almost 250 arrests.

Surrey Comet: Trusted: Kingston police

Kingston police station

According to statistics obtained through a Freedom of Information request, 249 people were arrested and 15 convicted as part of Operation Odin – an initiative launched in October 2014 to “reduce crime and anti-social behaviour associated with drugs supply” in the borough.

From Tuesday, May 10: Man jailed for dealing heroin in Surbiton street

More than 15kg of cannabis with a street value of about £112,000 was also seized as part of a drug deal, though no conviction resulted.

DI Adam Guttridge, who ran Operation Odin, defended the results, saying Kingston police only originally targeted convictions for about 15 of the borough’s “key individuals”.

He said: “I think the results are excellent. It was feedback we were getting back from the community – that drug supply was worrying them.

“We selected a number of nominals – individuals who we would look at building an intelligence picture around. Obviously not every arrest turns into a conviction because you need evidence.

“The nature of the beast is that you have to catch drug dealers with drugs and with evidence of supply, which for obvious reasons is not an easy thing to do.

“These guys are cute around what they do, they are not going to post it, so we have to prove that to a degree it will get past a jury.”

Fifty-three of the arrests were for serious offences such as possession with intent to supply cannabis or Class A drugs, which resulted in the 15 convictions.

Among those was Demis Ubiribo, 37, of Brighton Road, Surbiton, who was sentenced to six years in prison for dealing heroin in a Surbiton street in May last year.

He was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on Monday. DI Gutteridge added: “That’s a fantastic result, a fantastic conviction. He was a subject we were working on.

“We go through quite a long process before we get jobs to court so we need to be confident there is a realistic prospect. The suspects don’t give that up lightly."

For the remaining 196 arrests, which came for offences such as possession of cannabis, warnings were issued or out-of-court disposals.

A total of £27,465 was also taken and a further seven cash seizures made under police officers’ power of seizure without making an arrest.

A Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesman said: “CPS London takes these cases very seriously and when cases are referred to us by the police we carefully consider all the evidence in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

“To take a case to court we need to be satisfied that there is a realistic prospect of conviction and in cases involving drugs offences nine out of 10 people prosecuted by CPS London were convicted last year.”

In February, Kingston Police launched Operation Vulcan, – a drug dealing crackdown which targeted “drug supply lines” coming from outside the borough.

The operation is set to finish in July.

Operation Odin was mostly funded through Kingston police’s normal business’ budgets, though an extra £16,800 was taken from Proceeds of Crime Act funding – money seized or confiscated as part of police activities.