Boy, 11, among 2,000 kids arrested last year for dealing heroin, cocaine and amphetamine, The Sun can reveal
CRIME SHAME Boy, 11, among 2,000 kids arrested last year for dealing heroin, cocaine and amphetamine, The Sun can reveal
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A BOY of 11 was among almost 2,000 under-17s arrested last year for dealing drugs including heroin, cocaine and amphetamine, The Sun can reveal.
Police figures show an average of about 40 children aged 16 or younger were held every week in England and Wales on suspicion of peddling Class A substances.
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Experts believe many are vulnerable victims of county lines gangs who are coerced into transporting drugs from one area to another, often across police and local authority boundaries.
The 43 forces in England and Wales, plus British Transport Police, released figures after a Freedom of Information request.
They showed that 1,914 under-17s were nabbed for either selling drugs — or having such huge quantities they were suspected of being dealers.
The 11-year-old was held in Wiltshire.
The forces for Merseyside, Northamptonshire and Hampshire did not provide figures so the true total would be higher.
London saw most arrests, with 219 — including seven 13-year-old boys. Greater Manchester had 128, two involving boys of 12.
One was trying to deal in Class A drugs and the other attempted to supply cannabis.
The same force nicked a boy of 13 for trying to sell heroin.
West Midlands Police arrested 114 under-17s, including two girls of 16 over Class A drugs.
Leicestershire saw 108 arrests, with children pulled in for allegedly dealing in LSD, ecstasy, cocaine, cannabis and heroin.
York's Hidden Crisis: County Lines, Gangs, and the Fight for the City's Youth
Sussex cops made 102 arrests, two of boys aged 13 on suspicion of dealing in crack and heroin.
Anastasia de Waal, of the Civitas think-tank, said: 'We're continuing to see the exploitation of very vulnerable children here. Such exploitation blights not only these youngsters' childhoods but also their futures. Not enough is being done to prevent it.'
Lynn Perry, chief executive of Barnardo's, added: 'Children who are exploited are often forced to commit crimes by being coerced, threatened and made to feel like there's no way out.'
Ministers want to bring in a law so drug kingpins who force kids into county lines gangs can be jailed for up to ten years.
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