BBC News:

From BBC News: A crackdown on county lines drug dealing gangs resulted in the arrest of 1,100 people and the seizure of 292 weapons.

Forces across the UK boosted activity against county lines gangs in the week from 17 to 23 May.

In this week there were 33 guns and 219 knives among the weapons seized and 80 drug dealing phone lines identified.

County line gangs are urban drug dealers who sell to customers in more rural areas via dedicated phone lines. There are currently thought to be around 600 of these gangs operating in the UK, down from around 2,000 two years ago.

Read the full article here.

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Interested in higher level training on child exploitation? Safeguarding Bedfordshire also offers virtual classroom training (costs apply) in Child Sexual Expliotation (places available), Criminal Exploitation (dates TBC) and Contextual Safeguarding (limited places available). We also have free National Referal Mechanism (NRM) Awareness sessions.

Safeguarding Bedfordshire offers free eLearning ‘Gang Related Issues and County Lines’- please log in via the homepage and search for the title.