Operation Lake: 5 charged over Class A drugs supply into Deeside

Police have charged five people with conspiracy to supply drugs in Deeside, they have remanded to appear before Magistrates this morning.

The charges follow the arrested six people yesterday on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs into Deeside.

A man and a 16 year old boy from Merseyside, two women from Merseyside and a teenage girl from Deeside were arrested and taken into custody in Wrexham.

A 17 year old youth, also from Merseyside was arrested in Wakefield, Yorkshire.

A police spokesperson said:

“Operation Lake is part of North Wales Police’s on going work to disrupt the supply of drugs coming into the region and part of the wider strategy to combat County Lines crime.

The County Lines

The so called ‘County Lines’ model see’s organised crime groups (OCG’s) 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, particularly by young drug runners who use the rail networks as the predominant mode of transport.

A key feature of county lines drug supply is the use of a branded mobile phone line which is established in the marketplace and promoted throughout the existing customer base.

Group messages are often sent out periodically to the customer base to advertise the availability of drugs and special deals in return orders are placed back to the phone line.

Phone line is usually controlled by senior group members who tend to be located in the urban hub to avoid local police, these phone lines can generate thousands of pounds daily.

County lines groups will target new area’s and premises by pursuing vulnerable people who attend recovery groups, dependency units and areas associated with those experiencing problems according to a report by the National Crime Agency.

Cuckooing

A group will establish relationships with vulnerable individuals for access to their homes –  once they gain control over the victim, whether through drug dependency, debt or as part of their relationship, groups move in – this is known as ‘cuckooing.’

Tackling ‘cuckooing’ is part of a wider strategy employed by North Wales Police to disrupt organised drug supply.

This strategy includes the use of covert and overt tactics, including the use of stop and search powers and drug searches.

Joint working between North Wales Police, Local Authorities and housing associations is also critical in tackling the issue of ‘cuckooing’.

Information sharing protocols are in place to ensure that information is passed quickly between agencies to ensure that vulnerable tenants are offered support at the earliest opportunity.

Like most crime, police depend heavily on ‘community intelligence’  – 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.