Guns and knives found in Lincolnshire county lines crackdown

Officers arrested 21 people in total, including five in Lincoln, and eight in the coastal area, Lincolnshire Police said

More than 20 people were arrested after drugs, imitation guns and knives were seized in a police crackdown on county lines drug dealing.

The Lincolnshire Police operation was part of a week of "intensified" action.

Crack cocaine, cocaine, cannabis bud, and cannabis plants were seized along with six imitation firearms and 10 knives.

The force said five boys and two girls at risk of exploitation had been safeguarded during the operation.

County lines is police terminology to describe drug dealing where dealers use mobile phones to supply drugs from large cities to towns and rural areas using vulnerable people as runners.

'World of exploitation'

Those running the networks often exploit children to deal drugs, including using a practice known as "cuckooing" to take over a person's home as a base to sell drugs.

The county lines intensification week saw officers disrupting suspected drugs activity throughout the county, with 21 arrests made during the operation, Lincolnshire Police said.

Det Insp Gail Hurley from the Force Intelligence Bureau, said: "The negative impact of drugs on our communities can be significant.

"The organised networks orchestrating county lines activities prey on the most vulnerable members of society - children, adults with additional needs, addicts - and pull them in to a world of exploitation, danger, and fear.

"We know that with drugs comes weapons-related crime and other offending, and we target both types of criminality and do everything in our power to bring those responsible to justice."