Arrests during high visibility operation at Seven Sisters & Finsbury Park stations - London

British Transport Police officers made two arrests and handed out community resolutions for drug offences during their latest operation in North London.

The operation, codenamed Operation Zerda, is a series of highly visible, proactive operations across the northern parts of the Piccadilly and Victoria lines.

On Wednesday 10 March, they focused on Seven Sisters and Finsbury Park stations, using a police dog and uniformed and plain clothes officers.

Its main purpose is to be a deterrent, stopping theft, assaults and other incidents by being highly visible across these tube lines.

It also detects any offenders who decide to use that area of the rail network.

Here the operation lead, Inspector Dan Rushall, talks through what the operation is for, and how it supports front line TfL staff and those who currently need to use the railway.

During the operation officers arrested two people for possession of class A and B drugs.

Twenty people were issued community resolutions for possession of a class B drug, and four people were also reported for consideration of prosecution for the possession of class A and B drugs.

BTP officers were supported by Travel Support Enforcement Officers from Transport for London throughout the operation.

Operation Zerda has been running since mid-January and is one of the many proactive operations in place across the London Underground.

While it acts as a significant deterrent, it also assists other police forces by catching criminals who use the railway and are wanted for offences committed outside of stations and trains.

Since it began, officers have made 48 arrests for a variety of offences such as possession of offensive weapons, robbery and theft.

There have also been 83 out of court disposals for lower level of offences.

These high visibility operations play a large role in keeping the railway safe and secure. They work alongside the substantial amount of CCTV across the London Underground to act as a significant deterrent to any crime.