Middle class rural teens used as mules

MIDDLE class children are being exploited by gangs to be used as rural drug mules, MPs said last night.

Young people from stable families are among those at risk of being groomed.

The National Crime Agency said using children in ‘county lines’ operations – supplying Class A drugs from urban areas to county towns – has spread from London to the rest of the country including Greater Manchester and Liverpool.

The report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Runaway and Missing Children and Adults warns young people from ‘stable and economically better-off backgrounds’, some only eight or nine, are being exploited. It said children who go missing are at serious risk.

One middle class parent told the MPs: ‘My son became involved in a gang where he was exploited to sell Class A drugs at the age of 14 in 2012.’

The report said children groomed to sell drugs are too often ‘criminalised, rather than recognised as victims of the gangs who control them’.

Labour MP Ann Coffey, who chairs the group, said: ‘Children from all backgrounds can be affected.’