18 Jan 10,000 teenagers exploited by county lines criminals to transport drugs on railway
AT least 10,000 teenagers, some as young as 13, are being exploited by county lines criminal gangs to transport drugs for them, GB News can reveal.
The probe found the vast majority of the UK’s 600 county lines gangs use Britain’s rail network to carry huge quantities of illegal drugs and cash to communities right across the country.
The British Transport Police, which has run a dedicated county lines unit since 2019, said 40% of those arrested by its county lines officers were teenagers.
Many, who authorities believe may have been trafficked or coerced into running drugs, were referred to social work departments and children’s charities as part of national safeguarding protocols.
GB News was given exclusive access to follow a major British Transport Police led operation targeting the gangs using trains and stations across the UK.
On the first day of a four-day operation, police seized tens of thousands of pounds worth drugs and illicit cash and made multiple arrests.
Head of the unit, which covers the whole of the UK, Superintendent Gareth Williams told GB News: “It’s critical that we’re covering all regions because county lines is a UK wide issue.
“So my six regional teams are out every day looking for people who are being exploited, being coerced into activity.”
A four-day operation is targeting multiple rail stations across the country.
Superintendent Williams said the continued use of young and vulnerable people by the criminals was deeply alarming.
“The children we see are often in a poor state of health. They’ve often been staying in locations they don’t know. They’re often dirty.
“They’re getting paid of course, and that’s often the driver for them, but they don’t understand the danger they’re putting themselves in. And of course they’re vulnerable because of their age.”
GB News was also invited to witness plain clothes officers as they boarded a train bound for the Midlands, looking for any sign of suspicious activity.
The county lines taskforce at British Transport police has made around 2,200 arrests since the unit began operation in 2019.
Its officers have made more than 1,500 drugs seizures and recovered £1.25 million in illicit cash.
500 lethal weapons have also been seized by taskforce officers.
Because of the high number of teenagers involved in transporting drugs for the gangs, British Transport police have begun working much more closely with social work departments and children’s charities.
Some officers have been seconded to help work alongside the Children’s Society.
The Society’s national operations manager Ellie Fairgrieve said the criminal gangs are ruthless and creating a “really significant problem.”
Many train passengers would probably be “completely unaware” that the young person sitting near them was being coerced into criminality.
She said: “Young people can act in various ways.” She said.
“They can be quiet, they can be constantly checking their phone. They can have lots of cash on them.
“They can seem paranoid, and looking behind them. Or they can even come across as quite aggressive. But that aggression isn’t aggression, it’s fear.
“They’re worried if they don’t do the right thing for the person that’s exploiting them and messaging them and telephoning them.
“If they don’t get off at the right station, or meet the right person, there could be significant consequences for them.”
During the first day of operational police activity, officers at Birmingham New Street Station stopped a 27-year-old man carrying a suitcase with 10.5kg of cannabis inside.
Further up the line in Wolverhampton, a man and woman were arrested after the suitcase they were carrying was searched and 6kg of cannabis was found vacuum packed inside.
GB News witnessed another operation at Coventry rail station, where British Transport and local police officers were assisted by police dog ‘Ash’, a key weapon in helping sniff out those suspected of criminal activity.
As a 27-year-old man arrived at the station to board a train, “Ash” indicated to his handler the man was worth a closer look.
As plain clothes officers searched him, they found £5,000 in sealed plastic.
A later search of the suspect’s home also found a quantity of steroids and scales, often used by dealers to weigh their product.
In the last few years, the number of county lines has been reduced from a high of 2000 to around 600.
But the criminal trade in supplying outlying communities with drugs still nets criminal gangs in excess of £500 million pounds a year.
It is a criminal enterprise that remains a major issue for law enforcement right across the UK, as this latest county lines operation starkly illustrates; tens of thousands of pounds worth of drugs and illicit cash seized in just a single day.
