A GANG confrontation in the middle of Nelson has led to the arrest of two suspected drug dealers alleged to have been caught with heroin worth more than £15,000.

Rivals were involved in a stand-off close to the junction of Barkerhouse Road and Chapel Street, close to the East Lancashire railway line, at around 11.30pm on Thursday, according to Lancashire Police.

Three vehicles appeared to have ‘boxed in’ a fourth car and a number of men emerged, armed with hockey sticks, before a fight ensued.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said: “One of the vehicles was damaged and a couple of those involved did suffer minor injuries.

“But we when arrived on the scene they did not want to co-operate with officers.”

But the identity of one of the vehicles, a VW Golf, was circulated as ‘wanted’ and the car was later pulled over two hours later on Broadway, in Nelson town centre, and two men were spoken to.

Once the Golf had been searched, 32 wraps of heroin, with a street value of £11,000, are said to have been recovered from underneath the driver’s seat. And later the search of a home in the town’s Walverden area led to the discovery of 11 further wraps of the drug, worth around £4,000, in a safe.

Prosecutor Tom Snape told Blackburn magistrates that the arrests followed a ‘large-scale public disturbance’ in Nelson.

  • Two 24-year-old men from Nelson have been charged with possession of heroin with intent to supply.