Police arrest three in Ledbury county lines drug dealing crackdown

Three people have now been arrested after the Herefordshire detectives' discovery on Monday (February 27).

Drugs and a mobile phone have also been seized.

West Mercia Police said officers had found the "line phone", the mobile phone used by the offenders to arrange the sale of class A drugs, and, after a search in Birmingham, they found and seized a large quantity of drugs that were destined for towns and villages in the Herefordshire area.

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County lines is drug dealing across different counties, often with drugs being taken from a city to rural areas.

Detective Sergeant Andy Mowen said: “Across the force, we are working together to identify and stop those individuals from other cities bringing drugs into our communities.

“County Lines is the name given to the process and operation of drugs transported from larger urban areas into smaller towns, often in rural areas like Herefordshire, with the ‘line’ referring to the mobile number used to order the drugs."

He added: "What is important to remember is that the world surrounding the distribution and consumption of drugs, whatever their class, is not a victimless world. Young people, our children, our classmates, are being targeted and exploited by those who will use violence and intimidation if they don’t get what they want.

Scales have also been seized by officers (Image: West Mercia Police)

"It is not an exciting world, it isn’t like the movies or TV: these criminal gangs will use children or teenagers who are sold on a made-up, fantasy version of what being part of a gang is like, and they are at serious risk from harm once they are involved.

“County lines drug dealers will often exploit children and younger people by recruiting them to run drugs and cash between urban and county locations and to deal drugs on their behalf. Once recruited into county lines it can be difficult for those being exploited to leave, with fear and threats of violence used to keep them in place."

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He added: “Vulnerable adults, such as those dependent on drug use, will also then be targeted and their property taken over by drug dealers in a local area. This a practice known as ‘cuckooing’.

“Operations like this will remind the more central figures in these organised crime gangs that we can get to them and we will hunt them down; Herefordshire and Worcestershire are not a safe place for them.”

Anyone with concerns over county lines drug dealing can report information anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.