People in Huntingdon are being exploited by drug dealers like Alex Quarton who take over their homes to run their drug lines, say police.
“Neighbourhood officers work daily to safeguard the vulnerable people in their community and put people like Alex Quarton before the courts.”
The statement by Huntingdonshire police follows the jailing of a drug dealer who was caught attempting to flush class A drugs down the kitchen sink.
Alex Quarton, 24, was found by neighbourhood officers, who were carrying out a welfare check on a vulnerable man, at a flat in Huntingdon on 28 July (2022).
He was arrested and officers found wraps of crack cocaine and heroin clenched in his fist and a mobile phone which had fallen from his pocket. Further wraps were found in the sink.
A search of Quarton’s mobile phone revealed he had sent bulk messages to more than 750 different telephone numbers over a six-week period offering class A drugs for sale.
The team also visited Quarton’s home in Ullswater and found more than £2,000 in cash, a brand-new Apple MacBook and drug paraphernalia. Two samurai swords were also found.
At Cambridge Crown Court on October 4, Quarton was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison after previously pleading guilty to possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin, acquire/use/possess criminal property and assault an emergency worker.
PC Chris Winchester, from the Huntingdon neighbourhood team, said: “People like Quarton are exploiting vulnerable people in our community by taking over their properties to run drug lines.
“Cuckooing is an increasing issue, and we are taking a proactive approach to tackle this in Huntingdon by acting on information received from members of the public as well as our own intelligence to offer support to those who find themselves in a vulnerable position.”
More information about cuckooing is available on the constabulary website.
