News Officers chase
POLICE chased down and arrested a suspected drug dealer through Maidstone town centre. The suspected drug dealer (20)
ran from Brenchley Gardens in Maidstone and over a footbridge, and was pursued by plain clothes officers and arrested. He was spotted acting suspi-
ciously in the park at around 3.30pm. He ran off but was tracked downto anundergroundcarpark in St Peter Street. Officers seized bags of drugs and
a weapon. The local man was ar- rested on suspicion of being con- cerned in the supply of controlled drugs andpossession of anoffensive weapon. He was later released pending further investigation.
Knife search
TWO men are being sought by po- lice for brandishing a knife at a house inBeckettClose inMaidstone during a “disturbance” on Septem- ber 6. Kent Police said: “Officers at-
tended the scenewhere twomen al- legedto be in possession of a bladed article had left prior to their arrival. No injurieswere reported. Inquiries are ongoing into the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
downsmail.co.uk
Medwayminkspo�ed looking fornewhome
A MINK seen at East Farleigh Lock, could have been on the look- out for a newhome, according to a wildlife expert. Jackie King, of East Farleigh, was
sitting by the riverside when she was startledby the creature. She sent this picture in toDownsMail. She said: “Iwas sitting by the lock
and the mink came out of bushes and sat on the decking. Then it slipped into the river! “Iwish the picturewas better but
Iwas so taken abackwhen I sawit.” Water wildlife officer for Kent
Wildlife Trust, Chloe Sadler, said: “Themink is in every river in Kent. At this time of year, younger ani- mals will spread out and try to set up new breeding
areas.Maybe this one at the lock is scouting out the area. They are voracious predators. Their success is due to the ability to exploit a huge range of prey, most notably, fromthe conservationpoint of view, they impact our ground- nesting birds andwater voles. “Forwater voles, the femalemink
is small enough to enter underwater burrow systems that would other- wise be off limits to their native predators. “There is no risk to humans ordo-
mestic animals like cats or small dogs. Most animals would try and avoid any conflict, and the minks wouldn’twant to risk injury so they would scurry away.” Wildlife expert and Langley resi-
dent, TheoMcCausland (pictured), saidthemink inBritishrivers tendto be the non-native American species which escaped fromfur farms. He added: “There is amisconcep-
tion that the ani- mals’
spread
was a result of deliberate acts of sabotage by ani- mal rights ac- tivists by mass releases in the 1990s, when, in fact, large wild populations had al- ready been established for decades. “They can be destructive to our
native birds and animals and have beenas invasive to ourwaterways as grey squirrels have been to the for- est-dwelling native reds.”
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Maidstone October 2018
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