County Lines: Drug dealers recruiting teenagers in Shropshire

Criminals from cities including Birmingham and Liverpool are co-ordinating young drug runners to deal heroin and crack cocaine in towns across the county, also known as County Lines.

Detective Sergeant Jon Taylor, who heads up a team and works in the field fighting County Lines in Telford with West Mercia Police, said that a new tactic by these gangs is for the drug runners to recruit local young people – some as young as 13 – to help them to distribute their illegal wares.

The police said that teenagers are often targeted using social media and, once trapped, are badly mistreated.

“We have seen that recently local young children were involved and befriending the lads from out of town and then doing the dealing for them,” said Detective Sergeant Taylor.

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Detective Inspector Steve Cook, who works with young drug runners when they are caught, said that the teenagers are terrified of giving information to the police for fear of retribution.

There have been 40 arrests in Telford over the past year, with eight convictions which are County Lines-related.

At least six or seven urban street gangs operate in the streets of Telford alone, say police officers, with many more across Shropshire.

The conditions these young people are subjected to once in county lines have been described as “horrific”.

Lucy Dacey, of the Children Society, said that she has seen the conditions these young people are being made to endure.

She said: “We have supported young people who haven’t changed clothes or washed in the whole time they have been away, have been forced to witness adults being raped or taking drugs, sleeping on dirty or soiled mattresses with exposed needles and not being able to contact anyone other than their groomer or exploiter.”