Police arrest children as young as 13 for dealing drugs

According to Freedom of Information data obtained exclusively by Newsquest from Cambridgeshire Police, there were 179 arrests for drug offences involving children under 16 between 2018-23.

Jess Edwards, senior policy manager at the children’s charity Barnardo’s said: “We’re seeing young children being exploited by organised criminal gangs for activity including drug trafficking, and the average age for referrals to our services getting younger each year.

“Criminal gangs look to use and exploit children because they want to evade detection by the authorities. We’ve been really concerned about the impact of the Covid pandemic which has seen gangs move to online platforms to groom and engage children in criminal activity.

“As well as social media platforms, we're seeing gangs reach out to children on gaming platforms, with instances of young people gifted in-game credits as the first route into exploitation.”

Of the total arrests recorded by Cambridgeshire Police over the last five years 76 related to the possession of a controlled substance, including Class A and B drugs.

Officers logged 41 arrests of children under 16 concerning the supply of controlled drugs.

Meanwhile, 83 arrests were made for possession with intent to supply, with 36 offences involving Class A drugs alone.

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said: “Organised gangs will use various methods to try and exploit young people, including social media. To combat this, we have officers who work in local education settings and with education providers to try to identify those at risk.

“We also work with other agencies supporting young people, as well as taking enforcement action against those involved in the supply of drugs, and those who look to criminally exploit young and vulnerable people.”

In 2022, Cambridgeshire Police launched its biggest-ever operation to tackle exploitation and illegal drugs.

In a bid to prevent exploitation of young and vulnerable people, Operation Hypernova has seen 30 county lines dismantled and 31 people charged with 139 drug and human trafficking offences.

Police forces across the East of England have recorded a significant decrease in the age of children arrested for drug crimes.

The youngest individual to be arrested was in Norfolk, with an 11-year-old detained for the supply of a controlled substance.

Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, and Suffolk Police all logged arrests of children aged 12-year-old for offences ranging from possession to the supply of Class B drugs.

Norfolk police said tackling county lines is “in equal parts” about safeguarding victims, shutting down the line, and encouraging victims to seek support.

Its spokesperson added: “It’s a complex problem, with links to exploitation, vulnerability, knife and other violent and gang related offences.

“County Lines will always be tackled through a partnership approach, prioritising the protection of our most vulnerable and making best use of the criminal justice partnership to remove criminals from our streets.”

Essex Police logged 1,214 drug-related offences involving children under the age of 16, six times the number recorded by Cambridgeshire Police

It’s spokesperson said systems were in place to tackle gangs with particular emphasis on protecting those at risk of exploitation.

They added: “Enforcement is sometimes our only option, but we also focus a lot of resources on the prevention, and we take a ‘whole system approach’ to that work.

“This is quite clearly not an issue we can arrest our way out of, and it requires all our partners’ support, and we work determinedly with them to help those who may be at risk of entering or being affected by gang or County Lines activity.”