Police storm County Lines drug gangs as record number of arrests made | News

A man has been arrested in a dramatic police raid on a Liverpool home as part of an operation targeting drug trafficking, as crime and policing minister Sarah Jones vowed to crack down on “bad dealing”.

On Tuesday, October 7, Ms Jones joined officers in arresting the 29-year-old Kirkby man on suspicion of supplying crack cocaine and heroin.

It comes as new data was released showing a record number of gang leaders have been charged with County Lines drug offenses in the last 12 months.

According to the government, the closure of 2,300 “lines of agreement”, as well as targeted work on key transport networks and investment in automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology, resulted in more than 1,120 senior gang members being charged in the 12 months to July.

These are the highest annual figures since the Government’s district boundaries program began six years ago in 2019.

The Independent Caspar Barnes reporting from the scene.