Watch: County Lines dawn raids in Birmingham: 9 arrested for crack cocaine & heroin offences

Nine arrests have been made for drug supply offences after a major County Lines operation in the West Midlands.

Sixteen warrants were executed at properties across Birmingham and Solihull, with one outside the force area, just after dawn on Tuesday (May 23). Over 200 police officers were deployed to ensure the properties were targeted simultaneously, after months of investigation and intelligence gathering.

The operation has targeted four drugs lines which take over 1,000 calls per day and service more than 200 drug users of class A heroin and crack cocaine. West Midlands Police say the revenue from this is estimated to be between £18,000 and £20,000 per day – that’s up to a staggering £100,000 per week.

Officers are now conducting searches of each property as the eight men and one woman, aged from 19 to 35, remain in a dedicated custody facility to face questioning later today. A large quantity of class A drugs, a large amount of cash and mobile phones suspected to be used in the running of the lines have been recovered.

What has West Midlands Police said about the operation?

The County Lines Taskforce is a three year project funded by the Home Office. Chief Constable Craig Guildford, said: “This operation has been really successful and we’ve got people in custody. The most important thing is we’ve responded to local intelligence and we are determined to tackle the scourge of County Lines.

“What’s behind these lines is vulnerable people who are sent to do that trade, so we are trying to prevent them from entering that criminality, but more importantly we are gathering evidence around those higher up the chain – they cause communities misery.

“County Lines fuels serious and organised crime, such as knife crime, burglary and robbery, and we intend to bear down on it.”

West Midlands Police commended by the crime minister

Crime and Policing Minister Chris Philp said: “County lines drug trafficking is a vile form of criminality that uses intimidation and violence to force vulnerable people and children to do a gang’s dirty work.

“I commend West Midlands Police for their relentless efforts removing these awful individuals from our streets. Our County Lines Programme is delivering clear successes in the fight against this exploitative trade and we in government are steadfast in our support to police to stop these heinous crimes.”