Between 14 and 25 active county line drug-selling networks, West Suffolk council to be told

There are between 14 and 25 active county line drug-selling networks operating in western Suffolk , a council will be told next week.

A new West Suffolk Council report has revealed there are typically between 14 and 25 active lines operating at any one time, funnelling hard drugs from cities into towns like Newmarket , Bury St Edmunds , and Haverhill .

The county lines - named after the mobile phone line used to take the orders of drugs - often move between towns and require a flexible and rapid police response to combat, the report said.

The routes which import narcotics into rural towns involve high levels of violence, with ringleaders often grooming young children to become drug runners and carry weapons.

At the authority's overview and scrutiny committee meeting on Thursday, members will be told the council has been trying to raise awareness about the networks.

This included a presentation on the dangers of county line drug gangs at Newmarket Academy and at West Suffolk College in Bury St Edmunds .

The Western Suffolk Community Safety Partnership monitoring report, set to be presented by Cllr Robert Everitt, said Suffolk Police continue to collect intelligence to identify county line activity.

"The police in West Suffolk have created a network of officers whose aim is to develop intelligence, raise awareness amongst colleagues and take positive action in the form of misuse of drugs warrants and disruption visits," the report said.

"This approach has proven successful in focussing front line staff to this critical area of business. As a result of this focussed work we have now been able to reduce the risk of new county lines forming whilst still disrupting those that have traditionally existed."

In the year to April 2020, 146 people have been arrested in relation to county line drug dealing in western Suffolk, the report says, with tens of thousands of pounds worth of drugs being seized by officers.

During that time there has also been 97 drug warrants, more than £20,000 of cash seized, and 2.089 intelligence reports submitted by staff.

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