Police winning the war against county lines in rural Norfolk, say officers

County lines policing reforms have allowed officers to shut down 40 per cent of operations as they turn their focus from "mules" on the street to "controlling minds", police have said.

Norfolk, which is a county lines hotspot, has been targeted by police after it emerged London drugs gangs were using children as young as 13 to transport and sell their wares on the street.

Police began using the pay-as-you go mobile phones to trace the runners back to London, rather than just chasing the teenagers.

The tactics began under the coronavirus lockdown, when police reported it was becoming easier to spot illegal activity because gang members stood out on the empty streets.

Since the new drive started, 30 of 75 known lines have been closed down, police told the Guardian.

Det Insp Robin Windsor-Waite, the officer leading Norfolk police’s efforts, told the newspaper: “It is a massive rollback,” adding that it was important police targeted the “controlling minds” operating a web of drugs runners, not just the often-exploited teenagers selling the drugs.

“In the majority of cases, the arrest of the line controller terminates the line – and the risk associated with that line,” he said.

“Prior to this operation there was a degree of resignation to the continued exponential growth of county lines within Norfolk. The outlook has been transformed and our ambition is to completely eliminate the county lines business model from the county.”

Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast is one of the worst areas for county lines drug running in the UK.

David Matthews, a Norfolk Police chief superintendent, said: “For a county force seen as an easy target, we have probably made the environment as hostile as we can.”

In the last eleven months, 146 London-based alleged county line holders have been charged with selling drugs across Britain.

Their reach extended from Scotland to Kent and from south Wales to Norfolk, police said.