Police save 350 children from county lines gangs

Police have rescued more than 350 children from the clutches of county lines gangs in a major nationwide crackdown.

almost 600 suspects were arrested in a series of raids last week. In one instance, a missing 14-year-old girl from Cambridge was found in London, where detectives believe she was being sexually abused.

teenage gang members were among those held, and police seized drugs, cash and weapons in Huddersfield and Blackpool. they also helped 519 adults – some of whom had seen their homes taken over by dealers.

suspected child drug runners aged 16 were held in staffordshire and Lincolnshire. Officers found 364 vulnerable children. at least 30 people, including many children, were victims of modern slavery or people trafficking, police believe. Led by the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre, it was one of the biggest operations yet to try to dismantle an estimated 2,000 drug networks.

Officers held 500 men and 86 women suspected of being involved in county lines drug dealing, the name of which refers to the mobile phone lines used to buy and sell drugs.

the number of arrests is almost three times as many as were made last October when the centre run by the National Crime agency and the National Police Chiefs Council launched the first Britain-wide crackdown. they also seized 46 weapons including four guns, swords, machetes, an axe, knives, samurai swords and a crossbow.

In the week- long operation, £312,649 in cash and a large quantity of drugs including cocaine worth £176,780, crack cocaine worth £36,550 and heroin worth £17,950 was recovered.

a number of train stations were also targeted including Macclesfield in Cheshire, Walton in surrey and Basingstoke in Berkshire where police seized drugs and suspects. In Bedfordshire, a suspected ringleader was arrested at a property where officers recovered £500 in cash, a large amount of class a drugs, multiple phones and weapons.

In another raid of a property in abingdon, Oxfordshire, a gang threw drugs from the building as they attempted to escape. Four men were arrested and approximately £ 15,000 of cash and £45,000 in assets were found. In Hampshire, officers made 48 arrests targeting networks that bring drugs into the region and the Isle of Wight.

the daily Mail has repeatedly highlighted the county lines menace, which enslaves 10,000 children. NCa director of investigations Nikki Holland said: ‘tackling county lines and the misery it causes is a law enforcement priority... criminal networks use high levels of violence, exploitation and abuse to ensure compliance from the vulnerable people they employ to do the day-to-day drug supply activity.’

‘Swords, machetes and an axe’