Scots cops in ‘county lines’ raid

Officers in UK-wide swoop on dealers

POLICE were deployed to a Scottish airport as part of a UK crackdown on “county lines” gangs.

In an operation with Merseyside Police, Scots cops gathered intelligence and raided properties suspected of being home to drug dealers.

It came after top Scots police were told couriers were due to fly to Aberdeen Airport from Manchester Airport earlier this week.

While that location was put under surveillance, colleagues in Perth searched properties in the city as part of coordinated raids on houses on both sides of the Border.

Several train stations with services to Scotland, including Liverpool Lime Street, Preston and Wigan North Western were also targeted in Project Medusa.

“County lines” is used to describe criminals in cities who take over the streets of towns and villages with drugs and dealers, who they control from afar.

Gangs make hundreds of thousands of pounds a week from these communities.

Merseyside has been identified as a hub for such operations for many years.

After Tuesday’s raids, a quantity of drugs and cash – £20,000 in one property in alone – were seized in Liverpool.

Individuals there were said to control drug-dealing operations in Scotland, Lancashire and Cumbria.

In total, 36 arrests were made on Merseyside and in north-west England, while five people were held on trains to Scotland.

Police said: “We are determined to sever the county lines that blight our communities.”