Detectives fear Newcastle could be prime target for 'County Lines' drug lords from bigger cities; Cops reveal at least six 'branded drugs lines' are known to have been set-up in the North East as they battle to keep violent dealing gangs out of the region.
Byline: Sophie Doughty
Newcastle could be seen as a lucrative target for ruthless drugs gangs from bigger cities who use the so-called County Lines model to force local dealers out.
Detectives have today lifted the lid on their battle to keep this emerging form of crime, which has wrecked countless lives elsewhere in the country, from getting a grip on our region.
They have revealed how they believe North East towns and cities, including Newcastle, could be seen as attractive areas to take over by powerful crime bosses from elsewhere in the UK.
And cops are already aware of around six so-called branded drugs lines that have been set-up ion the North East by dealers based in other areas.
Now Detective Inspector Kirsten Dent and Detective Inspector Stu Liddell, who work for the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre, have explained the extent of the problem in our area.
Det Insp Dent said: "Currently the intelligence says we are an importer of the drugs. We have had branded County Lines reported in all three police forces across the region in the last six months and we are seeing gangs coming from bigger urban cities.
"The market is already there. In the North East we have got thehighest number of drugs deathsin the country. We have got a massive market for drugs, we are vulnerable as a region. We need to raise awareness and ensure we know what's going on.
"There have been between four and six branded lines appear in the North East that we know of."
The termCounty Linesis used to describe the actions of powerful big city-based gangs who move in on drugs markets in smaller cities, towns and coastal or rural areas.
The dealers will use dedicated mobile phone lines, often with their own nick-names, to take orders forheroin and crack cocaine then get vulnerable local people to sell it from homes they have taken over, known as 'cuckooed addresses'.
The ruthless criminals will often recruit young people to sell or move drugs and use extreme violence to turf local dealers out.
"It is a business model," Det Insp Dent explained. "It's like a franchise. When gangs or organised crime groups have exhausted the drugs markets in their own towns or cities, they are getting hold of weaker markets, so they are pretty much their businesses in other towns. They undercut the market by offering cheap, high quality, high purity drugs."
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Det Insp Dent is the centre's North East regional co-ordinator, while Det Insp Lidelll is its national...
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