Nine arrested in huge raids over child sexual exploitation, drugs and more

Staffordshire Police officers at one of seven raids across Kidsgrive and Newcastle-under-Lyne as part of an investigation into county lines drug dealing, child sexual and criminal exploitation, modern slavery and trafficking
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Nine people - five men and four boys - have been arrested after co-ordinated raids in Staffordshire targeting county lines drug dealing, modern slavery and trafficking. Warrants were executed at seven addresses in Kidsgrove and Newcastle-under-Lyne on Friday (September 20).

More than 50 officers, including specialist teams and police dogs, were involved. Staffordshire Police seized class A and class B drugs, a number of zombie knives, cash, and items linked to drug dealing, including scales.

The nine arrests included a 27-year-old man, from the Stoke-on-Trent area along with a 24-year-old man, a 22-year-old man, a 21-year-old man, and a 19-year-old man, all from Kidsgrove, on suspicion of dealing Class A drugs, human trafficking and modern day slavery.

Read more: £100k Grindr gang who trapped victims facing jail over criminal reign of terror

And four boys, aged from 14 to 17, all from the Kidsgrove area, were arrested on suspicion of dealing Class A drugs. Police said the raids were also connected to child sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation.

Detective Chief Inspector Amy Martin, force lead for child exploitation, said: “Today we have executed a number of warrants targeting those we suspect of being involved in child sexual exploitation (CSE) and child criminal exploitation (CCE) linked to organised criminality and drug dealing.

“In doing so, we have also safeguarded a number of young people who we believe to be victims of exploitation. We take CSE and CCE very seriously and are determined to make Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent an extremely hostile environment for those hell-bent on exploiting children in this way. We will not tolerate it.

“We also need the public’s help; so if you see something looks out of place then please contact us so we can help protect children and young people from harm, and show offenders that they cannot hide and operate within our communities."

Get the latest BirminghamLive news direct to your inbox

A spokesperson for the force said: “The activity follows our ongoing commitment to proactively target serious and organised crime across Staffordshire. We launched Operation Target in May last year and have been working with local police forces to disrupt and pursue criminals who plan, organise and commit serious criminal offences across the county. These include drug supply, illegal firearms, knife crime, human trafficking and sexual exploitation.”

All nine people arrested remain in police custody at this time while police enquiries are ongoing.