Nearly 1,500 arrests in county lines drug dealing crackdown

 

Image Credit: Metro

Nearly 1,500 people have been arrested in England and Wales in a week-long operation against so-called county lines drug dealing networks.

Police say they have started focusing on senior figures controlling phone numbers used to sell drugs.

Officers are also using modern slavery and human trafficking laws to prosecute gangs exploiting vulnerable children.

Some 139 county lines were closed, and almost £2m of Class A drugs, including cocaine and heroin, seized.

County line gangs are urban drug dealers who sell to customers in more rural areas via dedicated phone lines.

It has become central to the trade in illegal substances across Britain and is accompanied by serious violence.

Gangs in cities operate phone lines advertised in other towns and rural areas to supply drugs, while remaining at arm's length to reduce the risk of arrest.

But police changed tactics two years ago and now have a strategy of identifying the "line holder" by analysing phone records, meaning gang leaders can often be arrested in possession of the phone, proving their involvement.

As a result the number of arrests has been growing during regular week-long operations in which different police forces coordinate their efforts.

A total of 85% of defendants are now pleading guilty and the conviction rate is 99%, said Graham McNulty, deputy assistant commissioner of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC).

"We are making significant inroads into dismantling violent county lines.

"The figures speak for themselves. We're stopping abhorrent criminals abusing young people and lining their own pockets in the process," he said.

An assessment of county lines drug dealing produced by the NPCC suggests the number of active lines has fallen from around 2,000 in 2018 to 600.

In the latest police push, between 11 October and 17 October:

1,468 people were arrested

2,664 vulnerable people, including 2,209 children, were identified - with work beginning to protect their safety

6kg of crack cocaine, 28.8kg of heroin and 26.8kg of cocaine were seized, along with £1,254,384 in cash

289 weapons were seized, including 49 guns and 120 knives

Police also visited 894 addresses used by drug gangs for their operations against the will of the resident, a practice known as "cuckooing".

Most of the gangs operate from Merseyside, the West Midlands and London.

County lines gangs groom children and vulnerable adults to get them moving drugs around the country, often using threatening and coercive behaviour.

Source BBC