Missing Liverpool teenager found in Aberdeen in County Lines crime crackdown

A crackdown on county lines drug-dealing networks led to more than 600 arrests last week, authorities have said.

More than 140 weapons, including guns, axes and swords, were seized in targeted raids, along with more than £200,000 in cash and stashes of heroin and cocaine, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Initial figures show more than 600 children and 400 vulnerable, often drug-addicted, adults were assessed for “safeguarding purposes” while 40 people were referred as being potential victims of human trafficking and modern slavery, the NCA said.

In one raid, a missing 15-year-old from Liverpool was found at a property in Aberdeen, along with almost 100 wraps of crack cocaine and of heroin.

And in Newham, east London, armed police stopped a vehicle and arrested two gang members with county lines links, seizing a loaded 9mm fully automatic weapon, the NCA said.

Around 10% of the known 2,000 lines in the UK are “associated with serious violence” but this figure is “probably under-reported”, according to Duncan Ball, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for county lines.

Iryna Pona, policy manager at The Children's Society, said more effort is needed to stop the “cynical grooming” of children by gangs.

She said: “After being promised cash, drugs and a glamorous lifestyle, they are terrified into following orders and we have sadly supported children who have been stabbed, raped and tortured, with their activities monitored through mobile phone live streaming and tracking.

“While children in care or growing up in poverty are often targeted, these perpetrators prey upon any sign of vulnerability, and this exploitation can affect any child in any community, causing unimaginable trauma.

“Too many children exploited through county lines are still not being referred to the National Referral Mechanism - the system used to identify victims of modern slavery and human trafficking - and failing to get help from an independent advocate to ensure they are supported as victims and not criminals.”

County lines is a drug distribution model which typically involves city gangs branching out into smaller towns or rural areas to tap into new markets.

They deploy children and vulnerable people as couriers to move drugs and cash between the new market and their urban hub.

It is estimated by the NCA that the networks can net UK gangs around £500 million per year.

The name given to the scheme stems from the phone lines used by dealers.