Five big city ‘County Lines’ gangs running heroin and crack cocaine into Flintshire

Up to five ‘big city gangs’ are running heroin and crack cocaine into Flintshire, North Wales Police’s intelligence unit has found.

Deeside, Holywell and Mold have been described as hubs for the Flintshire drug trade where so-called County Lines gangs operate.

Heroin and crack cocaine are the stock in trade of the gangs, some with access to guns, and “they are ready to back up their threats” with violence.

Police say one in five serious assaults locally are down to drug gang enforcers.

Cuckooing, where gangs take over a vulnerable person’s home as a base for drug supply, is also common in Flintshire.

Police have identified 44 addresses in the county as being cuckooed, vulnerable localities identified include Garden City, Shotton and Holywell.

The extent of the problem has been uncovered by the Force’s intelligence unit, headed by Detective Superintendent Sian Beck, which has profiled Serious and Organised Crime across the six counties of North Wales.

The police unit has identified Merseyside – Manchester and West Midlands gangs involved in organised crime in the Flintshire area.

It also found three organised crime gangs involved in ‘Serious Acquisitive Crime’ in the Flintshire area.

They carry out targeted burglaries and thefts, two of the gangs are linked to offenders from the traveller community.

“North Wales Police are leading the way in Wales in tracking and tackling organised crime and among forces of our type we are at the forefront.” said Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones.

The public view of this problem is restricted because most people don’t experience it or come into contact with the gangs but the most vulnerable people in our society, including children and vulnerable people with mental health problems, are targeted by them.

Much of it is under the radar because they are unlikely to report the fact that they’ve been beaten and threatened but the work that has been done has pointed to the presence of criminal gangs and it is important that we tackle them.” added Mr Jones, who himself is a former detective.

In the last 12 months there hasn’t been any recorded use of guns in North Wales but the gangs involved are known to have access to firearms and to be prepared to use them, according to the report drawn up by North Wales Police’s Intelligence Department.

They use County Lines to distribute the drugs with gang members travelling across North Wales to recruit and supply young people and the vulnerable.

Emma Thomas, the Force’s Head of Crime and Intelligence Analysis, worked on the profiles with Senior Analyst Owen Preece. She said:

“We needed to understand what our issues were in North Wales and to look at serious violence, the drugs market and vulnerable people.

The fact that it is a priority for the Commissioner means we can put resources into it to help build resilient communities and try and change the culture so we recognise that these vulnerable people are being taken advantage of.

Where North Wales leads is in partnership working and recognising that it is not just a policing issue but also involves so many organisations dealing with health and social services so that in Wales we are recognised as the go-to people in the fight against serious and organised crime.

It is a very lucrative market for the gangs and they are very flexible and can change their methodology very quickly to adapt to how we operate and we have to keep up to deal with them.”

Detective Superintendent Beck added: “Gangs operating the County Lines drug supply model are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move and store the drugs, they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence and weapons.

Victims typically have existing vulnerabilities which make them particularly susceptible to being targeted.

They are likely to come from a chaotic home environment, be exposed to substance abuse and domestic violence from an early age, will regularly go missing or be truant from school and reside in neighbourhoods with high crime rates.

Areas where organised crime is prevalent often have common characteristics of high levels of deprivation, child poverty, crime rates, unemployment, benefit dependency and low levels of household income.

The fact that these gangs prey on children and vulnerable people is utterly despicable”