North Wales Police have continued their pursuit of County Lines drug dealers after raiding a property in the Bethesda area on Thursday night, 12 December.
Officers seized a large quantity of cash and drugs. A man and a woman, both in their 20’s, were arrested on suspicion of various drugs offences, and remain in custody.
District Inspector Jon Aspinall said: “There is no hiding place for anyone who engages in this type of activity. If you’re dealing drugs, think twice as we will catch up with you.”
He added: “I’d like to thank the community once again for the information we receive – keep it coming and we’ll do the rest.”
‘County Lines’ is a term used when drug gangs from big cities expand their operations to smaller towns, often using violence to drive out local dealers and exploiting children and vulnerable people to sell drugs.
These dealers will use dedicated mobile phone lines, known as ‘deal lines’, to take orders from drug users. Heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine are the most common drugs being supplied and ordered. In most instances, the users or customers will live in a different area to where the dealers and networks are based, so drug runners are needed to transport the drugs and collect payment.
A common feature in county lines drug supply is the exploitation of young and vulnerable people. The dealers will frequently target children and adults – often with mental health or addiction problems – to act as drug runners or move cash so they can stay under the radar of law enforcement.
In some cases the dealers will take over a local property, normally belonging to a vulnerable person, and use it to operate their criminal activity from. This is known as cuckooing.
People exploited in this way will quite often be exposed to physical, mental and sexual abuse, and in some instances will be trafficked to areas a long way from home as part of the network’s drug dealing business.
