County Lines

‘County Lines’ is a term used when drug gangs from big cities
expand their operations to smaller towns, often using
violence to drive out local dealers and exploiting children and
vulnerable people to sell drugs. These dealers will use
dedicated mobile phone lines, known as 'deal lines', to take
orders from drug users. Heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine
are the most common drugs being supplied and ordered. In
most instances, the users or customers will live in a different
area to where the dealers and networks are based, so drug
runners are needed to transport the drugs and collect the
payment. Police have arrested a total of 743 people in a
week of raids targeting so-called county lines drug gangs
across England and Wales. The NCA has estimated that there
are about 2,000 city-based gangs exploiting young people to
sell drugs in smaller towns. The dealer remains anonymous
through all of this, and has total control over the product
being sold. Because young recruits deliver the goods to and
from the urban hub, the person orchestrating the crime is
harder to track. Anybody of any age could theoretically be
exploited into joining a county lines operation, but the
majority are vulnerable young people aged 15-17, forced into
the crime through intimidation, violence, and weapons,
including knives and guns. "Vulnerable children and adults
are being recruited in our large cities to transport cash and
drugs all over the country," say CrimeStoppers. "This keeps
the true criminals behind it detached from the act and less
likely to be detected or caught." This is why county lines is a
major issue in our society.