How BBC team exposed illegal Snapchat sales of spice-laced vapes

In Warwickshire, I parked a sunny spring afternoon and a Hatchback, who was not ready to meet a drug dealer with my cameraman.

Thc accepted to sell to a sister who claims to be a vape fluids – a illegal substance, the main psychoactive component in cannabis.

However, we suspect that it contains spices, which is a more powerful drug that can cause serious side effects.

And without knowing it, “Girl Student” is a secret BBC correspondent who sends a message to him in Snapchat.

We published an article on Friday Selling the vapor liquid connected by spices through advertisements published on the social media site exposes these drug dealers to unwanted young people.

He came after he went hidden to capture the dealers in the law.

A year ago, I saw anxious about the young girls who started to play what the social media posts from two mothers think they were only 13 years old.

For a few months, they said how the girls were now dependent on what they suspected of being Spice and they would rise home.

One said he was afraid that his child would find his child dead in his beds, that his daughter felt that the symptoms of withdrawal of the drug “dead”.

Both mothers want responsible people to stop. They told us that the dealers were still on the streets, although he reached the police a year ago.

Using the information of the mothers, we sent a message to a seller bought by their daughters.

The Snapchat he uses explains the account at the top: “The new account, the old one has been banned”.

Avatarı is a cartoon man standing in front of the dollar bills wall. I want a menu and sends a bright -colored poster with a price list for THC, the chemical compound in the cannabis that raises you.

The price list requests £ 10 for a bottle of “special mixed flavor” or £ 20 for “pure concentrate THC”. He presents Birmingham and Warwickshire in the afternoons and evenings.

He starts to feel like he’s ordering a pizza.

No name or personal information is changed, but there are a few questions about how we get the seller’s information, “That’s why I know it’s not a police.”

We tell him that a friend at school advised him and ordered three special mixture bottles and one pure concentrate THC. We participate in a meeting point and prepare our team.

We are waiting for a leave of a leafy suburban where most of the houses have perfectly well -groomed front lawns and expensive cars on drivers.

The dealer agreed to meet near a busy children’s playground, not a problem for us.

My colleague poses as a female student who plays the steamer juice order. Joggers looks like an ordinary young man in worn trainers and a large puffer jacket, holding his mobile phone and vape.

Although the youngest member and nerves of our team have emerged, we all trust that we continue.

If he feels insecure at any point, the entire operation will be taken. We must be prepared for unexpected.

As we move to the meeting point, we are in constant communication, and the dealer texes her ETA in Snapchat.

Soon is five minutes away and things are nervous.

After feeling like a lifetime, a white SUV appears and the adrenaline begins to rush.

In the car, there are three in front of us – but we manage to hide our camera.

The team is watching our colleague walking towards the car while our cameras are rolling.

After a quick hello, he continues to talk while asking if they will be sold for tastes and whether they will be sold for a party.

The car is moving slowly.

Less after 30 seconds, one turns back with four bottles of turquoise blue, the other three of them contain clear liquid in 10 ml of bottles. The agreement is over.

Independent tests show that the bottles we buy contain spices.

I showed our images to mothers and girls a few days later.

Someone told me he felt sick. Both dealers are still active and children like children still buy them from them.

And one of the girls recognized the man who delivered the money and medicines because he had previously bought him.

To see what he had to say, we used his Snapchat accounts again last week we contacted the seller again. We were blocked and we didn’t give an answer.

Since then, Snapchat said that it was absolutely contrary to the rules of using Vapes and illegal drugs to buy or sell illegal drugs, and that more than 2.4 million drugs due to more than 2.4 million drugs and 516,000 related accounts were disabled last year.

“We use technologies to find and close the technologies, to prevent search results for a wide variety of drug -related terms and to support law enforcement officers.”

Warwickshire police confirmed that he received reports about Vapes with Spice Lacked Vaps sold to young people and said he was working with partners to collect evidence.

Both young girls said they no longer vaping illegal drugs.

A mother, Dawn, “These things are dangerous … extremely dangerous for adults and for children.

“Adults who make money from this must be locked with the switch thrown.”

• Information details and support with addiction BBC Action line.