Men and women from York arrested in county lines drug warrants

North Yorkshire Police arrested four people in York on the morning of Thursday 1 October as part of a joint-operation between NYP and Greater Manchester Police into county lines and modern slavery offences.

Dawn raids at ten addresses across both counties, which saw nine men and four women arrested.

The action comes as part of a four-month investigation into the transportation of class A drugs and the trafficking of vulnerable young people between the Oldham and York areas – codenamed Operation Homestead.

The 13 arrested – aged between 16 and 54 – are being held on suspicion of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and on suspicion of section 2 of the Modern Slavery Act – arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to being exploited.

They all remain in custody for questioning.

A small quantity of class A and B drugs were also recovered from the addresses to be examined and used in evidence.

County Lines is the term used to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs into areas across the UK, using dedicated mobile phone lines. Criminals are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move – and often store – drugs and money.

Since the inception of Operation Homestead, GMP has been working alongside North Yorkshire Police and local partners as part of a multi-agency response to ensure the safeguarding of vulnerable people coerced into criminal activity.

Four of those arrested – two men aged 48 and 54, and two women aged 41 and 47 – were from the York area and taken into custody by officers from North Yorkshire Police.

Superintendent Lindsey Butterfield, North Yorkshire Police’s commander for the York and Selby areas, added: “Today’s action is a clear demonstration of how police forces and partner agencies work together to tackle the scourge of county lines drug dealing and sends a very clear message to those who continue to exploit vulnerable people and bring drugs into North Yorkshire – it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be in the same position as those in custody right now.

“The operation also puts modern slavery in the spotlight and highlights the vulnerability of some of the people who are exploited by drug dealers. Particularly young people who are groomed by criminal gangs and end up in a situation they cannot get out of, being forced to work for drug dealers and facing abuse and violence. To that end, I urge members of the public to look beyond the obvious. Exploited and vulnerable people don’t always look vulnerable, don’t always act like victims, and may not believe or understand that they are being exploited. Please look out for the signs and report it, you could help save someone from a life of abuse. As you can see from today’s action, we will act on information.”

Spotting the signs:

As organised crime can take many different forms, there can be various different signs to look out for. Some of the most common are:

– Unexplained gifts and cash

– Drug paraphernalia

– More than one phone (often known as a graft phone)

– Lots of travel tickets such as bus and train tickets

– New friends

– Increased missing from home episodes

– Secretive or withdrawn from family and/or friends

– Lying- unable to retell a story without confusion or holes in the story

– Receiving excessive calls or messages from ‘new friends’

– Getting picked up or dropped off by unknown people in unknown cars