Cabbies, coach drivers and train guards should be paid and trained to grass up on ‘county lines’ drug gangs, MP proposes
The MP for Barrow said transport staff should be thrown into the front line of the war on drugs after a London rapper was jailed for supplying class A drugs in his constituency
CABBIES, coach drivers and train guards should be paid by the Home Office to grass up “county lines” drugs gangs, an MP claims.
Labour’s John Woodcock last night said transport staff should be thrown into the front line of the war on the vicious trade.
In a Commons debate today, he will urge the Home Office to train and “incentivise” transport staff – claiming they could help police “turn the tide” by spotting drugs mules or gang leaders.
The National Crime Agency believe the number of ‘county lines’ – dedicated phone lines used by urban gangs to sell drugs in small towns across Britain – has soared by a third in little over a year.
There are thought to be 1,400 gangs making nearly £2 billion a year.
Last week a drill rapper from south London was jailed for supplying heroin and crack cocaine in Mr Woodcock’s Barrow constituency.
A key breakthrough came in March when a 17 year-old girl was found in a flat in the Cumbrian town with 53 wraps of ready to sell heroin and crack inside her.
Many of the young people forced to act as county lines drug runners cannot drive so rely on public transport.
Speaking last night Mr Woodcock said: “Train guards and cabbies can so often pick up when something’s not right.
“And some of these young people being made to traffic drugs from the big cities stick out a mile as they head to coastal towns.
“These kids have to use public transport because they can’t drive so it should be easier to pick them up.” He said: “The government should be funding police training to spot young people trafficking drugs and offering cash rewards for staff who tip off the police.”
The Home Office ran a “Know the Signs to Spot” poster campaign to the public and transport staff could provide intelligence on the ground to cops.
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Police chiefs claim dangerous networks operate from cities of London, Manchester and Birmingham in smaller towns and cities across the UK.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid at Tory conference said he feared middle class professionals were fuelling the bloodshed on Britain’s streets with their desire for a quick hit.
He called for a review of drugs use and said those taking cocaine and Ecstasy at dinner parties were “not innocent” of the rise in violence sweeping the country in the County Lines phenomenon.
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