Lost on the line: The county lines gangs recruiting girls

New figures have revealed at least four thousand young people are currently caught up in county lines – meeting orders for heroin and cocaine placed on mobile phone ‘deal lines’. They’re transporting drugs from cities to rural and coastal towns, and carrying weapons too – knives, hammers and acid.

Many find themselves selling drugs in a strange town. Trapped, too scared to leave. Increasingly, when police raid the ‘traphouses’ where the drugs are held, they’re finding girls. But how many young women are caught in the county lines? Some are being recruited online for their ‘clean skins’ - a lack of a criminal or gang connection – so they’re less likely to be known to police and stopped. Others are used to launder money or facilitate travel and accommodation.

The focus on boys working for the lines means girls have often been overlooked. Police chiefs guess 10 to 15% of children involved are girls. But they admit they have no real idea of the number of girls trapped in this violent world.

File on 4 hears the female view from the county line, told by girls and women who’ve lived the life and witnessed serious violence. They reveal the particular reasons gangs want girls involved, as county lines become more sophisticated. Girls are less likely to be stopped, or undergo intimate searches by police. They are trapped through sexual violence and threats to kill. But with few projects offering specialist support to female members of county lines, are girls more at risk of being dragged back into the gangs?

Reporter, Jane Deith Producer, Emma Forde Editor, Carl Johnston

Image credit; cindygoff\Getty