LONDON
Drug trafficking networks in the United Kingdom have shifted from major cities to rural areas and smaller towns, exploiting vulnerable children to distribute narcotics across wider territory.
These "county lines" operations transport illegal drugs between regions, often crossing police jurisdiction boundaries. The "lines" refer to specific phone numbers used to coordinate drug sales. Participants also call the practice "going country" or "going OT," short for "out there."
The National Crime Agency identified 1,500 such routes across the United Kingdom between 2018 and 2019. That number subsequently doubled to 3,000 routes. During 2018-2019, the agency estimated annual turnover from county lines reached approximately £500 million.
A 2020 Home Office report by Dame Carol Black identified 2,000 teenagers in London linked to county lines operations. The majority originated from the Metropolitan Police service area, which accounted for 15 percent of the market. West Midlands Police contributed 9 percent, with Merseyside making up 7 percent.
Criminal gangs recruit young people by promising financial rewards. Many are coerced through debt bondage, entering networks to repay drug debts. These tactics frequently constitute modern slavery.
Violence associated with county lines increased significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. Knife crime has moved from urban centers like London and Birmingham into rural counties, driven by these networks.
In 2019, Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, attributed the rise of county lines gangs to reductions in police numbers. Police officials that year said they lacked sufficient resources to effectively combat county lines operations and cited cuts to youth services as a contributing factor.
Dame Carol Black's 2020 report traced the phenomenon to multiple causes: government cuts in youth and drug recovery services, parental absence, poor parenting, increased child poverty, school exclusions and greater availability of purer drugs.
The National County Lines Co-ordination Centre was established in September 2018 as a joint initiative of the National Crime Agency and National Police Chiefs' Council to facilitate information sharing and enhance protection for exploitation victims.
Gangsters engage in "cuckooing," taking over homes of vulnerable individuals to use as drug-dealing bases. In early March, the National Police Chiefs' Council visited 683 suspected cuckooed addresses during a week-long focus on county lines operations.
