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County lines: how a charity helps children who’ve been forced to traffick drugs
The Children’s Society is campaigning to protect children from exploitation by organised criminals – crucially, it wants any child being controlled by drug dealers to be recognised as a victim, not a criminal
The police interview room was cold and bare. Two police officers sat across the table from 15-year-old Robbie*. “We are charging you with intent to supply,” said one. Robbie said nothing. He was terrified of what the police would do to him if he didn’t speak, but he was even more scared of the people who had forced him to sell drugs.
Robbie is just one of the thousands of young people exploited by organised crime groups running “county lines” operations every year. While the exact numbers of children affected by county lines is unknown, it is estimated there are about 27,000 children identified as gang members in England. These criminal organisations lure children – some as young as seven – with cash, gifts, drugs and alcohol, as well as offers of friendship and status. Once groomed, they blackmail and coerce them into carrying and selling drugs in towns and villages across the UK. They use violence, sexual abuse and threats to keep the child under control.
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