City is capital of ‘county lines’ drugs network
BIRMINGHAM has been named as one of the drugdealing capitals of the country, with city gangs exporting narcotics nationwide.
The Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, the official watchdog for police forces across the country, revealed Birmingham, Liverpool and London as the three main bases for “county lines” gangs.
It said gangs based in these cities were exporting drugs nationwide. Organised criminal gangs based in the cities send dealers, many of them children, to towns, villages and rural areas, where they sell drugs. Customers reach them using dedicated mobile phone lines.
A new report by the inspectorate said: “There are more than 2,000 individual deal line numbers in the
UK, linked to approximately 1,000 ‘branded’ county lines. The analysis suggests that Birmingham, London and Liverpool are the main exporting areas, with other county lines originating from a further 23 forces.”
It highlighted a study by the National Crime Agency which warned: “Cities, towns and rural areas across the UK are supplied with drugs by multiple county lines. “The greatest number of county lines continue to originate from the area covered by the Metropolitan Police (approximately 15 per cent of individual deal lines), followed by the West Midlands Police (9 per cent) and Merseyside Police (7 per cent) police areas.”
Some gangs send young people from Birmingham New Street station to sell drugs in rural areas, the report said.
Trains are used because the dealers, who are often intimidated or bullied into working for the gangs, are too young to drive. The rail network remains a key method of transportation, particularly for children exploited in county lines offending.
This is most likely to be due to in part to the recruitment of minors, who are unable to drive legally.
“Rail network hubs such as Birmingham New Street, Clapham Junction, Manchester Piccadilly, St Pancras and Waterloo are key points of access to and exit from the rail network.”
The new findings come after West Midlands Police reported that it had rescued 49 children and young people exploited by organised crime gangs, in just one week of intense activity.
The youngsters were typically aged 15 to 17, but some are as young as 12. Many are moved in to the homes of vulnerable adults, often drug addicts, and this can mean living hundreds of miles away from their former homes in the West Midlands.
The Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services called for restrictions on using pay-as-yougo phones anonymously, saying this would help fight county lines drug gangs.
The watchdog suggested people “should have to register personal details when buying a mobile phone or replacement SIM card” to prevent the handsets and numbers being used for drug dealing.
Former detective Mark Powell, one of the inspectors who worked on the report, said: “Officers have to resort to lengthy investigations to try to prove who had a phone. But clearly there’s a wider debate to be had. “We are not saying anonymity should no longer be available to everybody but we are saying there needs to be a review of the criminal abuse of mobile phones”, adding that this should look at whether regulations need “strengthening” – but this was “not the end of pay-as-you-go”.