County lines gangs target vulnerable women in Highlands

County lines gangs are forcing vulnerable women into joining networks supplying crack cocaine and heroin to the Highlands and Islands, a senior detective has warned.

Det Ch Insp Craig Still said criminal groups based in major UK cities were sending associates north to co-ordinate drug dealing.

He told BBC Scotland’s Scotcast that the suspects were often young men known for violent offences in their home cities.

Domestic abuse victims and a heavily pregnant woman have even had their homes taken over by gangs to store and sell drugs.

Det Ch Insp Still said a dedicated team of detectives were working with officers across Scotland and England to disrupt the activity.

The term county lines refers to the use of a single mobile phone number for ordering drugs.

The phone line is operated by a city-based gang member.

Others set up local bases in the areas where the drugs are being sold, often taking over a vulnerable person’s home in an activity known as cuckooing.

Police Scotland said there had even been cases of children being used to supply the drugs.

Det Ch Insp Still said four “lines” usually operated in the Highlands and Islands at any one time.

The gang members sent north to places, including Inverness, were often in their late teens or early 20s and usually have a history of violence, including gun crimes.

They are then found temporary accommodation by local “facilitators”, sometimes forcing a resident out of their own bedrooms.

Det Ch Insp Still said: “We find the groups tend to target women who may be addiction experienced, survivors of abuse, or may have been through the prison system for various offences.”

In a report to Highland Council earlier this month, Police Scotland said organised crime groups in Birmingham, Liverpool and London were among those behind county lines in the region.

Last year, officers in the Highlands and Islands seized 6,300 individual deals of crack cocaine, 1,030 individual deals of heroin, and more than £30,000 in cash.

More than 90 arrests were made.

In the report, the national force said it was working with its partners to disrupt gangs.