County Lines: Large police presence in Shotton explained

North Wales Police has revealed why there were a large number of police officers and vehicles, including some from Merseyside Police, in Shotton this morning.

Several people got in touch with Deeside.com to alert us to a possible incident in the centre of Shotton.

Police say they were dealing with a “small roof siege so had to close the roads to bring the incident to a safe.”

In an update this afternoon police confirmed they were carrying out an operation to combat ‘County Lines’ drug dealing in the area.

A spokesperson for North Wales Police said:

“In response to the ongoing issues of County Lines Drug dealing in the area, today we have been joined by Officers from Merseyside Police and British Transport Police for #OpTrick which is a day of patrols designed to disrupt and catch drug dealers.”

Inspector Gareth Cust said: “Today’s Operation shows that there are no borders when it comes to protecting vulnerable members of public and prosecuting those who exploit them and deal drugs. This is a fine example of teamwork between neighbouring forces all working towards a common goal.”

“The Operation has been running since this morning and we’ve been busy! Several people haven’t been happy to see us and we want to apologise to any motorists in Shotton at about 10am – we had a small roof siege so had to close the roads to bring the incident to a safe conclusion, it’s all sorted now and the male is in custody.”

The so called ‘County Lines’ model see’s organised crime groups often from cities such as Liverpool or Manchester establish a network between their urban hubs and county locations.

North Wales is a particularly easy target for the OCG’s due to the regions proximity to major hubs and the logistical ease in which drugs can be ferried around, by young drug runners who are known to use rail networks as the predominant mode of transport.

Young people are being coerced, groomed and threatened with violence to take part in Class A drug dealing activity across North Wales.

Police depend heavily on ‘community intelligence’ and need information from local residents.

If you have information about any suspected criminal or suspicious activity in your area, you can report it to police by calling the 101 number or reporting it via the force website follow this link.