AROUND 40 per cent of the fake Valium tablets found across Scotland at the beginning of 2019 were recovered in the South West of Glasgow.

Police have revealed they obtained more than 230,000 Etizolam tablets in Scotland in the first three months of 2019.

A report submitted to Glasgow City Council explains that a single vehicle stop and search in the Pollok area in February, resulted in the recovery of 100,000 tablets and the arrest of two men linked to the operation.

In Glasgow alone, over 100 kilograms of herbal cannabis, worth more than £1 million, has been recovered, several large cultivations have been disrupted and arrests have been made.

In January Police Scotland launched an investigation into organised South East Asian criminality in Scotland which extended into other parts of the UK.

They discovered that the high number of drug deaths across the country have been linked to the use of Benzodiazepines, which acts as a sedative, particularly Etizolam.

Police Scotland has confirmed that tackling violence, acquisitive crime, disorder and ant social behaviour remains a key priority in Glasgow.

Work will continue in the six subdivisions to identify and target offenders and their locations. Ongoing operations to tackle specific feuds and organised crime groups remain in place.

In the South East of the city a team of officers, based in Castlemilk, have been targeting violence between two feuding groups following a murder in the community last year.

In Glasgow’s South West a separate group of police have been working to prevent gang-related activity between rival groups. In the past 12 months 115 police reports for crimes in that area including misuse of drugs, violence and weapon carrying have been filed.