Drug dealers use e-scooters for illegal deliveries
CRIMINALS USE TRANSPORT AS THEY ‘GO UNNOTICED’
E-SCOOTERS are becoming an ever more common sight on London’s streets and pavements.
However, drug dealers say they are now being used to make rapid illegal deliveries – and the official rental ones are the best for avoiding police.
Though private e-scooters are illegal to use on public pavements and roads, the hired ones can be used for payment across London.
One West London drug dealer, who goes by the name Smallzy, 21, said: “I use the e-scooters to get around and deliver drugs. The hire ones are the best to use because they mostly go unnoticed as the police don’t really imagine drug dealers using e-scooters that have ID checks.
“The thing they don’t understand is that people who are selling drugs aren’t going to be honest. I use loads of different people’s IDs and their accounts on all of the e-scooter brands that are in London.
“You can easily buy someone’s legit ID off them or an account. I’ve never been stopped on a hire e-scooter and will continue to use it whilst I deal drugs. I even send my ‘runners’ out on them, people are surprised when we turn up on them”.
‘Runners’ are people working below the main drug dealer who sell drugs for them. They are usually younger and get a set ‘wage’ whilst the main dealer gets most of the profit from the drugs.
E-scooters are being trialed by Transport for London (TfL) as a way to increase sustainable public transport as they use electric batteries instead of fuel. To take an e-scooter on a ride you need a bank card and an ID, which Smallzy says are easy to fraudulently access.
Unless these e-scooters are part of TfL’s pilot scheme they are actually illegal to ride in public. This is new territory for the Met’s police as there has only recently been a rise in people using scooters in London.
A study from VICE revealed findings that black people are more likely than white people to be stopped for using e-scooters. Although black people only make up about 13% of London’s population, they account for 30% of all traffic offence reports (TORs) issued between January and May.
Comparatively, white people, who make up about 60% of the city’s residents, account for 50% of TORs in the same time period.
The issue of e-scooters and the way they are policed is being ‘investigated’ and ‘looked into’ by the Met who said it is a new problem and they need to find the best way of policing it.
Chief Superintendent Simon Ovens from the Met’s Roads and Transport Policing Command, said: “The riding of e-scooters on London’s roads and pavements, besides those that are part of the TFL trial, remains illegal and potentially dangerous.
“Under current legislation, e-scooters can only be driven on private land.
“The Met’s Roads and Transport Policing Command continues to conduct operations across the capital to engage with e-scooter users, taking enforcement action where necessary.
“The Met also continues to assess the role of e-scooters in street crime such as robberies or theft. We know the concern this causes Londoners and that is why we are taking decisive action by seizing e-scooters being ridden unlawfully.
“This year alone, the Met has taken more than 2,000 e-scooters off the roads, making arrests when people use them to commit crime or cause violence.”
Anyone with information on illegally used e-scooters linked to crime can call 101 or tweet @MetCC.
Information about crime can also be provided to Crimestoppers, anonymously, by calling 0800 555 111.