More than 1,000 people have been arrested and 292 guns seized in a week-long crackdown on drug trafficking gangs.
Police across the country carried out a week of action from May 17, making 1,100 arrests, seizing 33 guns and 219 knives and identifying 80 drug trafficking phone lines.
There are around 600 county gangs operating in the UK, up from around 2,000 two years ago, which Assistant Deputy Commissioner Graham McNulty attributed to increased police response.
The head of the National Police Chiefs Council for the County Borders said, “We have relentlessly pursued those behind the line while doing all we can to save those who are being exploited.
“Weeks of escalation like this allow us to dedicate an explosion of activity and resources nationwide, underscoring to the public our absolute determination to rid communities of this heinous crime.”
County gangs are drug dealers who sell to customers in rural areas using dedicated phone lines and children as couriers.
They also take over the homes of vulnerable people to store or sell drugs.
During the operation, 904 of these homes were visited and 1,138 vulnerable people were brought to safety, police said.
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The operation also involved the National Crime Agency, which seized 500 kg of cocaine from a shipping container in London and 17 kg of heroin after a Polish driver was arrested in France.
Another heavy truck driver has been accused of bringing 107kg of cocaine – worth £ 8.5million – to the UK from the Netherlands by ferry.
In March Sky News reported that children are still at risk of gang exploitation, a risk that did not disappear during the coronavirus pandemic.
A report from the National Youth Agency highlighted the increasing gangs …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-05-26 23:32:00
