A MAN has been charged with a drug offence and another arrested in connection with assaults on women following a routine traffic operation.

Road policing officers from Essex Police’s Casualty Reduction Unit arrested and charged student Ibrahim Hacisevki, 23, of Rectory Avenue, Rochford, today with failing to provide a specimen after they believed they could smell cannabis.

Hacisevki was stopped by officers after suspecting he was using a mobile phone in his red Vauxhall Astra. He has been bailed to appear before Southend Magistrates’ Court on Friday, March 4.

A 36-year-old man from Westcliff was also arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon.

After he was stopped, it was alleged he had a lock knife and knuckle duster on his car keys, and officers also wanted to speak with him in connection with four assaults on two different women that occurred in Southend in June and July last year.

He is currently in custody.

During the operation, officers patrolled in cars and motorbikes as well as using Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology, before escorting suspected offenders to check sites in Prince Avenue at the junction with Nestuda Way and Southchurch Road.

Six vehicles were also seized for having no insurance, 54 people were stopped for not wearing a seatbelt, 20 drivers were stopped for using a mobile phone, 14 vehicles did not have an MOT certificate, one driver was stopped for driving without a licence, two drivers were stopped for going through a red traffic light, and 12 drivers were found to be speeding.