50 county lines drug operations running in region
POLICE have identified 50 county lines drug operations running in Birmingham and the West Midlands – with many of the gangs involved also handling guns.
A chilling new report has revealed how the region is now the UK’s second biggest exporter of heroin and cocaine to rural towns, outside of London.
The details were revealed to the Ethics Committee of West Midlands Police Crime Commissioner’s Office.
A report said about 50 drugs lines had been identified by West Midlands Police so far this year, many involving the exploitation of children.
The report added: “Those lines assessed as posing the greatest risk to the vulnerable, where there is credible intelligence to suggest that exploitation is taking place, are prioritised for further intelligence development to support investigations.
“The National Crime Agency (NCA) assesses that the West Midlands is one of three key areas where firearms are associated with the operation of county lines.” Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) and smaller but increasingly dangerous Urban Crime Groups (UCGs) are involved in the lucrative trade, where secret phone hotlines are used for advertising and selling drugs.
The report added: “The West Midlands is the second biggest ‘exporter’ of county lines to smaller towns and rural areas, with nine per cent of deal lines nationally originating in the WMP area.
“It is assessed that almost twothirds of the wider region’s OCGs are predominantly involved in drugs activity, some of which includes county lines and that the lines between USGs and OCGs are becoming more blurred, with USGs causing increasing harm.
“The strong connection between drugs supply and firearms is evidenced in the West Midlands where the use of violence is common to both protect and enable criminal business interests.”
County lines crime sees drug gangs exploit and coerce vulnerable people, often children, to carry and sell illegal drugs from one area of the UK to another, usually across police and local authority boundaries.
In June West Midlands Police revealed it had smashed 20 county lines networks and made 200 arrests in just six months, rescuing 82 children
Superintendent Rich Agar, the West Midlands Police lead officer for county lines, told the Post: “We tirelessly pursue people linked to county lines drugs gangs.
“We run regular operations targeting suspected offenders and have had real success in bringing down drugs supply chains and arresting suspects.
“County lines drug offenders often groom children or vulnerable people to run or deal drugs on their behalf so we also work with partners to identify people at risk of exploitation and offer them support.
“We’re currently finalising a project that will see us work with a charity to repatriate any children arrested in other parts of the country who we suspect have been groomed by West Midlands drugs gangs. We hope the scheme will help us understand how they’ve been exploited and better target offenders.
“Our operations are intelligenceled and we are continually analysing police data to identify who may be linked to a county line and who could be at risk of exploitation from these individuals.”
Earlier this year a county lines taskforce – part of the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) – took down 12 lines and arrested 22 people.
Chief Inspector Ronan Tyrer from the ROCU, said at the time: “County Lines gangs are a poison in our communities; we will be relentless in ridding them from our streets and, crucially, protecting vulnerable victims.”