Three people were arrested and cannabis worth more than £300,000 was confiscated as part of the wide-ranging crackdown by officers in Bedfordshire which saw police work with a whole host of other agencies.
County lines typically involves drugs gangs selling their products in other towns using a dedicated phone line.
These offenders are often linked to serious violence and use intimidation, grooming and exploitation, particularly of young or vulnerable people, to run drug dealing networks across the country.
On Tuesday (28 February) officers uncovered a cannabis farm in Bedford with plants worth up to £175,000 seized. A man in his 20s was subsequently charged with the cultivation of cannabis.
The following day a joint operation in Watford with police in Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire led to a further arrest where a suspected county lines dealer was subsequently charged with being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis.
Then on Thursday, (2 March) Bedfordshire Police seized around £30,000 in cash and a Mercedes as part of a separate operation targeting a county drugs line in Luton.
Enforcement action continued this week in Bedfordshire, with cannabis worth around £150,000 seized by officers in Luton yesterday (Wednesday).
Teams within Bedfordshire Police also carried out a number of different safeguarding activities in an attempt to raise awareness about these issues.
This included visits by officers to taxi firms as well as bus and railway stations, while the county’s weapons bins were emptied.
More than 300 young people also attended a youth conference organised by the Bedfordshire Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit (VERU) and Police and Crime Commissioner Festus Akinbusoye, which featured educational talks about issues like county lines and knife crime.
Detectives this week also sat down with Luton Urban Radio as part of a new show The Public and the Police, to discuss county lines, child criminal exploitation and what is being done to keep young people safe.
