Phone blocks failing to curb drug dealing
Pupil is arrested over knife
POWERS that can shut down a drug dealer’s mobile phone line have been used just 20 times in two years, despite the menace blighting the country.
The restriction order was introduced in 2017 and allows police to apply to a court to force a mobile phone provider to shut down a number being used to sell drugs.
However, despite an estimated 2,000 numbers being used by 1,000 county lines gangs, the National Crime Agency last week said only 20 orders have been applied for.
Duncan Ball, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, denied the legislation is of limited use, saying each case had to be looked at individually. “We have a range of tactical powers and this is just one option that can be useful. Cases have to be looked at separately.”
The NCA’s estimate of 2,000 county lines numbers is also just the tip of the iceberg, as it only includes mobile numbers specifically used by gangs who sell outside their local area. Vince O’Brien, NCA head of drug operations, said: “The estimate does not include lone dealers, who may operate their own line, or gangs based in an urban area who sell in that area. We have no estimate on how many more phones are in use because police were only asked to provide intelligence on county lines.”
He said it is difficult to get a clear picture as some gangs running county lines also sell within their local areas. And the NCA estimate does not include dealers selling in bars and clubs.
Nikki Holland, NCA director, believes police will never win the war on drugs or stamp out the county lines menace – thought to be responsible for at least 10 per cent of serious violence.
She said: “I don’t think we’ll ever stop it but we have to prioritise lines which cause the most harm through violence and exploitation.”
Last week Nedim Bilgin, 17, became the latest teenager to be stabbed to death in London, when he went out in a gang blackspot in Islington. It is believed he had tried stop them taking his bike.
Mr Ball said there is evidence of exploited children going on to set up their own county lines network and of youngsters, some aged 10 or 11, being used as drugs mules.
They are enticed with cash and designer clothes, then kept under control through debt bondage and violence.
The NCA said it remains dedicated to tackling the kingpins who bring in the drugs and the “middle market” gangsters who shift them around the country. A SCHOOL pupil has been arrested after taking a 12-inch knife to school.
Officers later visited the unnamed school in Thurrock, Essex, to educate youngsters about the dangers knives present.
A spokesman for the Grays local policing team said on Twitter: “My team attended a Thurrock School in relation to a pupil taking a knife to school.
“Officers found this horrific weapon had been removed from the child and they were arrested.”