PRITI ON PATROL
Home Secretary sees police smash down door of drug gang suspect
THE Home Secretary witnessed police efforts to disrupt ‘abhorrent’ county lines gangs yesterday.
Priti Patel accompanied officers who smashed down the door of a suspect from a drugs ring operating in Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales.
After London, Liverpool is the biggest ‘exporter’ of drug crime, and Merseyside Police have been given £640,000 to tackle gangs selling into surrounding areas.
The cash has been used by the force and British Transport Police to help make more than 100 arrests so far. Officers have also seized weapons, phones, drugs and cash worth more than £120,000, as well as saving 21 people from exploitation.
Around 120 officers were involved in yesterday’s operation, which saw 12 warrants executed in Liverpool, Wirral and the seaside towns of Rhyl and Abergele.
Thirteen suspects were arrested, including a 37-year-old man, who was held during the raid witnessed by Miss Patel at a semidetached home in the Norris Green area of Liverpool. Officers carried out a further 48 stop and searches and arrested five men, including one at Lime Street station carrying around £3,000 in cash.
County lines gangs – named after the phone lines used to arrange drug deals – recruit children and teenagers to transport drugs from major cities to provincial towns. The Home Secretary said: ‘These individuals are exploiting our children, from the age of ten, who are vulnerable, they are being exploited and that’s what we’ve got to stop.
‘I will not tolerate these abhorrent gangs that are terrorising our towns. I’m pleased to see such strong results from the police – they have my full backing in this crucial work.’
Merseyside Chief Constable Andy Cooke said ‘ hundreds’ of county lines operated from Liverpool and shutting them down was no easy feat. Seven have been stopped over the past two months and another 60 should be by the end of March, he said.
The Government has pledged £20million to tackle county lines over the next two years and Boris Johnson has set up a special Cabinet committee to tackle the issue.
‘I won’t tolerate these abhorrent gangs’