Modern slavery and organised crime groups
County lines
‘County lines’ is the term used to describe the approach taken by gangs originating from large urban areas, who travel to locations elsewhere such as county or coastal towns to sell Class A drugs. Gangs typically recruit and exploit children and vulnerable young people to courier drugs and cash. Typically, users ask for drugs via a mobile phone line used by the gang. Couriers travel between the gang’s urban base and the county or coastal locations on a regular basis to collect cash and deliver drugs.
Cuckooing
'Cuckooing' is the term used to describe the practice where drug dealers take over the property of a vulnerable person and use it as a place from which to run their drugs business.
Groups take over addresses of local vulnerable adults by force or coercion. Often this involves the home of a Class A drug user, who is supplied with drugs to initiate a relationship. Other vulnerable groups include adults with physical or mental health problems, people with learning difficulties, people who misuse other substances such as alcohol, those recently released from custody and the elderly. Victims may initially appear to be consenting, but quickly progress to being coerced and controlled through threats and intimidation. Women who have entered into relationships with gang members are often controlled and subject to domestic abuse.
Debt bondage, where adults are told they must continue to make their property available and/or work to pay back a debt owed for drugs, is a common widespread theme, as is the use of force and coercion to exploit vulnerable adults. In some instances victims have become homeless, being forced to leave their address in fear of violence from gang members. Gangs typically also move to and/or between different addresses in an effort to evade detection. Vulnerable adults with premises are often exploited repeatedly by different gangs, sometimes within a short period of time.
'Cuckooing' in relation to the distribution and use of drugs is known to be an issue across Thames Valley, including in Slough.