1,800 arrests and XL bullies seized as police smash county lines gangs

MORE than 1,800 suspected drug dealers were arrested and eight XL bullies seized in a week-long blitz of county lines gangs.

Some 1,653 vulnerable individuals being exploited by the gangs – more than half of them children – were brought to safety as police closed down 245 drug dealing phone lines.

Officers confiscated 600 weapons – including guns, nunchucks and knuckledusters – and seized more than £ 2.5million of Class A and Class B drugs, as well as £1.8million in cash.

Officers raided 1,284 addresses which had been taken over by drug gangs in a process known as cuckooing – where people have their homes forcibly used as a criminal base.

County lines is the term used to describe dealing where mobile phones are used to supply drugs such as cocaine and heroin from large cities to towns and rural areas.

Senior dealers target children and vulnerable people to deliver the drugs, hundreds of whom then find themselves being arrested each year, often on trains.

They are often lured in by offers of ‘easy money’ jobs on social media platforms like Snapchat, chief superintendent Gareth Williams of the British Transport Police said. West Midlands Police last week rescued two missing children in Crewe who were dragged into county lines gangs, charging two men with drugs supply and modern slavery offences.

Policing minister Chris Philp said: ‘Gangs inflict harrowing damage and misery, using violence and intimidation to exploit children and vulnerable people to do their dirty work.

‘Our police forces work incredibly hard every day to break up these criminal networks and I want to pay thanks to our officers for their continued efforts to tackle this vile activity.’

Children can be forced into acting as couriers for gangs, as well as being tricked into taking part in financial crimes.

Cruel dealers often stage a robbery of the drugs, plunging the child into a debt bondage which keeps them in the gang’s service, Mr Williams said.

Teenagers are then forced to deliver packages across the UK, with some even directed by prisoners using illegal mobile phones from jail, he added.

James Simmonds-Read of charity The Children’s Society said this was a concerning trend and financial exploitation was often connected to other forms of abuse.

‘What may start with sharing bank details and the promise of easy cash can then turn into threats of sexual abuse or children being made to hold or move drugs for criminal groups,’ he said. ‘Financial exploitation can happen to any child, in any village, town or city regardless of their background.

‘While criminals don’t care about the children they target... we know the public do care about keeping children safe.’

‘Children lured in by easy cash’