Four forces launched a concerted campaign to dismantle criminal groups, underpinned by the first round of funding from a £25 million government cash boost.
New figures show that, as a result of this activity, police made over 650 arrests, closed nearly 140 deal lines, seized cash and drugs with a total value of over £3 million, and made over 100 weapons seizures.
Officers also safeguarded scores of individuals – including 140 children.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said:
I am determined to roll up county lines drugs gangs and stop them from terrorising our towns and exploiting our children. I have seen first-hand the important work the police are doing to tackle county lines, and these impressive results show just how much of an impact our investment is having. The police will always have my backing in tackling this threat and, crucially, protecting victims.
The operations were carried out by British Transport Police, the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside Police and West Midlands Police, and took place between November 2019 and Mach 2020.
This police surge activity was funded by £5 million from the government’s £25 million package to tackle county lines. The operations were carried out by British Transport Police, the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside Police and West Midlands Police, and took place between November 2019 and Mach 2020.
This police surge activity was funded by £5 million from the government’s £25 million package to tackle county lines.
British Transport Police have also used the funding to introduce specialist drug detection dogs to work within their new dedicated county lines task force.
The National County Lines Co-ordination Centre is ensuring more intelligence is shared between forces and police are targeting dirty money. Since it opened in 2018, the centre has coordinated action which led to over 2,500 arrests and has safeguarded over 3,000 vulnerable people.
County lines is criminal exploitation, where children and vulnerable adults are coerced by gangs and organised crime networks to carry and sell illegal drugs from one area of the UK to another, usually across police and local authority boundaries.
The National Crime Agency’s most recent strategic assessment of serious and organised crime found that more than 3,000 unique deal line numbers were identified in 2019, of which 800 to 1,100 lines were estimated to be active during a given month.