A striking wraparound front and back cover of the Peterborough Evening Telegraph has highlighted 75 of the city’s drug dealers who have been convicted by the courts.

The paper advised readers to take a good look at their faces, remember them and what they did to people in the city.

Editor Kevin Booth said: “I took the decision to run it back and front because this is an unusually significant story for the Peterborough public.

“It is one we’ve covered all the way from dawn raids to sentencing.”

A total of 143 people were arrested as a result of the police’s Operation Harrier, 107 charged with drug offences, and 75 sentenced to a total of 311 years, two months and 14 days in prison.

The paper covered it now because the last of the 75 have gone through the crown court.

Kevin said: “We’ve had a positive reaction. People have backed what we have to say.

“The words used on the front page, and the comment piece inside were very forthright.”

The pictures were accompanied inside the paper by a full list of all those given a prison sentence – and a second list of those convicted and not sent to jail.

Operation Harrier began in summer 2001 and by November of that year, and after meticulous planning, undercover officers were hitting the streets.

Posing as users, they worked their way through the network of drugs – from suppliers to dealers, runners to pushers.

In September last year, they struck when the suspects least expected, with dawn raids rounding up dozens of people at a time, and charging them with drug offences.

From being a hush-hush project, the campaign was suddenly front page news.

The Evening Telegraph’s photographers captured officers with body armour and sniffer dogs, hammering down the doors of known dealers to make the 143 arrests.

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