LONDON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- More than 650 members of "county lines" drugs gangs in Britain have been arrested in a major crackdown by four of the country's biggest police forces, the British Home Office said Friday.
New figures show that, as a result of this activity, police made over 650 arrests, closed nearly 140 deal lines, seized cash and drugs with a total value of over 3 million pounds (3.7 million U.S. dollars), and made over 100 weapons seizures, said the department.
Officers also safeguarded scores of individuals -- including 140 children.
The operations were carried out by London's Metropolitan Police, West Midlands police centered on Birmingham, Liverpool-based Merseyside Police and British Transport Police which patrols the country's rail network, and took place between November 2019 and Mach 2020.
This police surge activity was funded by 5 million pounds (6.2 million dollars) from the government's 25 million pounds (30.9 million dollars) package to tackle county lines.
"County lines" is criminal exploitation, where children and vulnerable adults are coerced by gangs and organised crime networks to carry and sell illegal drugs from one area of Britain to another, usually across police and local authority boundaries. Enditem
