County lines: Gangs are 'exploiting children as young as 12 in Kent'

The number of county lines gangs operating in Kent has reduced from 82 in 2020 to 42 in March this year

Children as young as 12 are being recruited by county lines gangs to sell drugs in Kent, police have said.

Criminals are sending young people from areas including London to deal crack cocaine and heroin to users in the county.

BBC Radio Kent was given access to one of the three County Lines and Gangs Teams who target those supplying drugs in the county.

Kent Police said it has almost halved the number of active county line gangs.

The numbers operating in the county have reduced from 82 in 2020 to 42 in March this year, the force said.

Detective Superintendent Lopa McDermott said: "This is largely attributed to regular intensification weeks, offering a time of targeted action to tackle drugs networks.

"The most recent campaign resulted in the recovery of 12 line phones, which has significantly set back the work of those who try to bring Class A drugs into the county."

• Inside the complex battle against drug gangs exploiting children

• How a county lines gang moved in

• 'I was 11 and in a drugs gang - why did nobody save me?'

Drug gangs are run from urban bases that stretch out to customers in rural areas, using young and vulnerable people as couriers.

Dealers offer cash, mobile phones, vapes and clothes in so-called "business opportunities" promoted on social media, police have said.

PC Dan Cook, from Kent Police's County Lines and Gangs Teams, said they have seen very young children involved in the illegal operations.

He said: "The youngest we have seen is probably about 12, and they can be anything from that age up to 19 or 20. They use them because they are vulnerable and they are easy to exploit."

The force also revealed how children as young as 13 have been shown how to secrete drugs inside their bodies to try to avoid detection by police.

PC Matt Eccles, from Kent Police, said: "An individual will secrete the drugs internally in them. We have had instances where people have said they have been shown from the ages of 13 or 14 to do this to avoid capture. It is so dangerous."

In a survey of 1,500 boys aged 13 to 19 commissioned by British Transport Police, 19% said they or a friend had been offered work by a drug dealer and 15% had seen drugs being offered or sold on social media.