Dozens of county lines networks out of London and into smaller UK towns have been broken up.
Nearly 250 suspects have been arrested by the Met Police and dozens of county lines networks out of London have been smashed as part of a fresh crackdown.They joined forces across the UK carrying out synchronised dawn raids seizing cash, drugs and firearms from properties used to run drug operations.The National Police Chiefs' Council said the week of action saw over 1,400 arrested and 671 vulnerable people safeguarded across England and Wales.
County lines is a distribution model that involves urban gangs expanding their markets for crack cocaine and heroin into smaller towns by setting up phone lines through which they sell Class A drugs.The Met's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty described county lines as an "abhorrent crime".
"We know the supply of drugs is inextricably linked to violence and causes misery to those impacted by it," he said. Those in charge of the phone lines, known as lineholders, often recruit children and vulnerable adults into trafficking the drugs all over the country in order to avoid detection themselves.
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