London Councils welcomes prison sentences for 'County Lines' drug dealers

  • By JackGraves

London Councils has welcomed the prison sentences given today to three drug dealers who recruited vulnerable teenagers to act as couriers to run drugs to coastal communities.

In a landmark case, the drug dealers are believed to be the first to be charged under the Modern Slavery Act. 

Cllr Nickie Aiken, London Councils’ Executive member for Schools and Children’s Services, said:

“We welcome these sentences and the pioneering use of modern slavery powers to prosecute these criminals. The county lines drug trade is a plague across the capital and London boroughs support a hard-line approach to the ‘county lines’ drug dealers who ruthlessly exploit young Londoners and groom them into lives of crime.

“The men jailed today were prepared to deploy terrifying levels of violence to ply their trade and ensure those under their control did their bidding. We will continue to protect vulnerable young Londoners by putting people like these defendants behind bars.”