County lines: More than 230 arrested in Met Police crackdown

More than 230 people have been arrested and 70 phone lines closed in the latest crackdown on county lines gangs.

Class A drugs with a street value of more than £4m were confiscated during the operation, the Met Police said.

Its officers have since safeguarded 34 female and 215 male vulnerable adults and young people, the force said.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty said police were "doing more than ever before" to tackle the gangs.

The arrests came as part of County Lines Intensification Week activity, which ran nationally last week.

Of the 234 people arrested, 109 individuals have been charged with a total of 259 crimes, the force said.

As well as seizing about 44kg of suspected Class A drugs, police confiscated 33.8kg of suspected Class B drugs, £334,559 in cash, firearms and 56 other weapons.

Much of the focus was on safeguarding those exploited by county lines leaders, Mr McNulty said.

This included "maximising the use of modern slavery legislation to charge those at the top of the county lines chain".

Nequela Whittaker was a county lines dealer and drugs mule who since being released from prison in 2009 after receiving a four-year sentence for selling drugs has turned her life around.

The 34-year-old, from Clapham, now helps run Global Thinking - a programme to support vulnerable girls and young women in Brent, north-west London.

Speaking to BBC London, she said it was "nice to hear" that action was being taken to support people exploited by the gangs as she revealed that she was now receiving fewer calls from people trying to escape their clutches.

"It is paramount at the end of the day that these kids are seeing that at some point the system does care for them to some degree," she explained.

"I came from that world and understand the detrimental environment [these people live in] and if we don't understand that it is only going to get worse."

Ms Whittaker said that treating them as victims rather than criminals will have "some effect to save them from a life of hell".

She added: "Education is the key.

"We need to educate people around the risks, safety and allow drugs to be taken in a contained space.

"This is what is happening in Scotland and it should be treated as a public health issue in London too."

The crackdown was part of Op Orochi, which between its launch in November 2019 and this September, is said by the Met Police to have closed 1,260 lines, arrested 2,470 county lines line-holders and associates, and led to 3,833 charges being authorised.

Mr McNulty said county lines bring "misery to communities and devastate the lives of those who are most vulnerable in our society".

There was also an undeniable link between drugs and violence, so disrupting all routes of drug supply continued to be central to making London safer for everyone, he added.

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