County Lines: Hundreds arrested as police carry out fresh crackdown

The Met Police seized weapons as part of the raids

Nearly 250 suspects have been arrested by the Met Police and dozens of county lines networks out of London have been smashed as part of a fresh crackdown.

The raids were part of the Met's ongoing Operation Orochi and ran from 7 March to 13 March.

They joined forces across the UK carrying out synchronised dawn raids seizing cash, drugs and firearms from properties used to run drug operations.

Other police forces included Wiltshire, Surrey, Sussex and Essex.

The National Police Chiefs' Council said the week of action saw over 1,400 arrested and 671 vulnerable people safeguarded across England and Wales.

County lines is a distribution model that involves urban gangs expanding their markets for crack cocaine and heroin into smaller towns by setting up phone lines through which they sell Class A drugs.

The Met's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty described county lines as an "abhorrent crime".

"We know the supply of drugs is inextricably linked to violence and causes misery to those impacted by it," he said.

Those in charge of the phone lines, known as lineholders, often recruit children and vulnerable adults into trafficking the drugs all over the country in order to avoid detection themselves.

• More than 4,000 Londoners drawn into 'county lines'

• County lines drug dealers posed as key workers

• Cocaine 'worth £184m' found in banana boxes

These drug runners are often threatened with violence and are unable to escape.

In the latest raids, more than 100 vulnerable children and adults exploited by county lines operators are now being helped by police and social services.

Officers also made 25 referrals to the National Referral Mechanism, which assesses individuals as potential victims of human trafficking/modern slavery.

Police also seized £284,000 in cash, 2.4kg in Class A drugs and 14kg in Class B drugs.

They also found 56 knives and one firearm in the raids, as well as making 249 arrests in the capital.

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