Drugs: Organised Crime

To deliver our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade, it is crucial that we tackle all drug supply, including gangs that run county lines through violence and exploitation.

County Lines is the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. That is why we are investing £42m this financial year (25/26) in the County Lines Programme, to target exploitative drug dealing gangs whilst breaking the organised crime groups behind this trade.

From July 2024 to March 2025, law enforcement activity through the County Lines Programme taskforces has resulted in more than 1,200 deal lines closed, 2,000 arrests (including the arrest and subsequent charge of over 800 deal line holders) and 2,100 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people. Over 320 children and young people also received dedicated specialist support through the County Lines Programme support service in that time.

As committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we have introduced a new offence of child criminal exploitation in the Crime and Policing Bill to go after the gangs who are luring children into violence and crime. We are also introducing a new criminal offence of ‘coerced internal concealment’ as an amendment to the Bill, which will crack down on the dangerous practice of anyone, including gang leaders, who force people to hide items inside their bodies to avoid detection often as part of horrendous and exploitative drugs trade.