Drugs, cash and weapons found in raids as e-bikes 'blight' communities

Published1 November 2026

Amphetamine, cannabis, suspected cocaine, cash and weapons have been found in early morning raids across south Wales as part of a clampdown on e-bikes.

Police are growing increasingly concerned about the link between e-bikes, serious organised crime and child exploitation - with many suspected offences being committed by children.

One senior officer said people were "fed up" of e-bikes "blighting" areas across the UK, while an expert said they could "grease the wheels" of organised crime.

The BBC has been given access to an operation by South Wales Police to combat e-bike related crime, from illegal riding, to drug dealing - a local response to a national problem.

It is six o'clock in the morning and the BBC has been invited to a police briefing involving undercover officers in Merthyr Tydfil.

Operation Grebe is a response to escalating concerns about illegal e-bike use across the UK.

An organised crime officer, who cannot be identified, leads the briefing.

"The aim is to disrupt criminal networks operating across the south Wales area, identify and safeguard vulnerable adults, children affected by criminal exploitation [and] seize criminal assets and disrupt criminal finances," he said.

This operation is about seizing vehicles, but also disrupting the darker side of e-bikes.

Officers have received intelligence that e-bikes and e-motorbikes may be linked to drug dealing in the area.

On a dark, wet, misty morning, police vans make their way to homes across south Wales.

"These e-bikes are blighting communities, they're making it unsafe for people to live - so we're taking action," said Supt Emma Fox, who oversees the raids.

As the head of specialist operations within the force, she knows how potent a criminal tool e-bikes and e-motorbikes have become.

"It's prevalent across the UK," she said, adding e-bikes were "often linked to drug use, drug supply and organised criminality".

And she was particularly concerned about children on e-bikes being "exploited" by hardened criminals.

Frankly, she said, "it's easier to avoid the police", on the bikes.

But police forces are fighting back, and are employing increasingly sophisticated ways to tackle e-bike related crime including drones and their own fleets of e-motorbikes.

Surrey Police launched Operation Scramble in response to e-bikes being linked to criminal activity - this year, the force seized 136 e-bikes, up from 127 in 2025.

Dr Timothy Holmes, senior lecturer in criminology and policing at Bangor University, said e-bikes could "grease the wheels" of organised crime.

"From a criminal activity point of view, it's a very versatile vehicle - it's easily manoeuvrable and goes at a high speed," he said.

"They are becoming an emerging issue because they are so visible."

He compared the supply and availability of illegally held and adapted e-bikes and e-motorbikes to the illegal arms industry, where there is "a big legal industry" and an illegal industry "bleeding off from it".

He said, for police, it was a "balance" of "how much do you stop this escalating into a problem, in lieu of going after the more serious areas of organised crime, like drug trafficking like county lines".

In Merthyr Tydfil, the police van pulls up near a redbrick, semi-detached home.

Officers pour out and stand ready with a battering ram, but the front door is already open.

There are also raids in Cardiff, Pontypridd and Swansea.

Across the 14 raids, 12 bikes were seized. Some will be destroyed, and 11 people were arrested, including for suspected drugs offences.

Four people in the Swansea raid were charged with suspected drugs offences, including supply of crack cocaine and heroin.

And in Merthyr Tydfil, Fox said there was a "significant seizure".

"We have seized a quantity of drugs and cash - suspected cannabis and cocaine," she said.

"The drugs have been found upstairs in the house."

The suspected drugs will now be tested.

Alongside the suspected drugs and £1,300 in cash was an electric bike, electric motorbike, and a quad bike.

Two people were arrested and taken away from the house in handcuffs.

"It shows the link between the use of electric illegal bikes and criminality," Fox said.

"Air weapons" had been found in the address, Fox said, which she added officers were "surprised" to find.

"We wouldn't have known about them, but it is something that has been recovered from the address," she said.

Senior officers say they are investing in technology to combat e-bikes, but said this was not just a policing problem, and would need a broader effort to tackle the issue.

Related topics

Wales

Electric bikes and scooters

Policing

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