On Monday 27 February, detectives in Herefordshire identified a new drugs line operating from the West Midlands into Ledbury and Malvern and three arrests have been made.
Detective Sergeant Andy Mowen said: “Across the force, we are working together to identify and stop those individuals from other cities bringing drugs into our communities.
“County Lines is the name given to the process and operation of drugs transported from larger urban areas into smaller towns, often in rural areas like Herefordshire, with the ‘line’ referring to the mobile number used to order the drugs.
“As part of the arrest we were able to recover what we have identified to be the ‘line phone’, the mobile phone used by the offenders to arrange the sale of class A drugs, and, following a search in Birmingham, we located and seized a large quantity of drugs that were destined for our towns and villages.
“What is important to remember is that the world surrounding the distribution and consumption of drugs, whatever their class, is not a victimless world.
Young people, our children, our classmates, are being targeted and exploited by those who will use violence and intimidation if they don’t get what they want. It is not an exciting world, it isn’t like the movies or TV: these criminal gangs will use children or teenagers who are sold on a made-up, fantasy version of what being part of a gang is like, and they are at serious risk from harm once they are involved.
“County lines drug dealers will often exploit children and younger people by recruiting them to run drugs and cash between urban and county locations and to deal drugs on their behalf. Once recruited into county lines it can be difficult for those being exploited to leave, with fear and threats of violence used to keep them in place.
“Vulnerable adults, such as those dependent on drug use, will also then be targeted and their property taken over by drug dealers in a local area. This a practice known as ‘cuckooing’.
“Operations like this will remind the more central figures in these organised crime gangs that we can get to them and we will hunt them down; Herefordshire and Worcestershire are not a safe place for them.”
Anyone with suspicions that a property is being used to sell drugs, or that a young and vulnerable individual may be getting involved with county lines drug dealing can report this online under the Tell Us About section of our website www.westmercia.police.uk or information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
More information for children and young people about county lines can be found by visiting Fearless www.fearless.org/ Fearless is a site where you can access non-judgemental information and advice about crime and criminality.
