Coventry teen arrested over 'county lines' Class A drug trafficking

Police say a teenage boy from Coventry found with crack cocaine and heroin on him was part of a "county lines" drug dealing operation.

Officers had stopped the 16-year-old boy in High Street in Leamington Spa after reports that two males were acting suspiciously on Wednesday afternoon (February 13).

He was initially arrested on suspicion of possessing a knife after officers from the local policing priority team found a knife near to where he had been sitting.

A search of the boy at Leamington Police Station later uncovered the class A drugs.

Detective Constable Steve Mobbs, from the Leamington Offender Management Unit, said the drug arrest was related to "county lines" drug trafficking, where children are used by crime gangs to traffic drugs into rural areas.

He said: "This was a typical example of county lines drug criminals exploiting vulnerable young boys and having them traffic drugs from big cities into smaller county towns.

"We are committed to disrupting this type of offending and working with the young people involved to move them away from a life of crime."

The boy, from Coventry, received a youth caution in connection with the drugs and has accepted help from the youth offending service who will work with him to address his offending.

No further action was taken in relation to the seizure of the knife.

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