Kids lured into mini ‘gangster’ drug army by barons using Snapchat and treats
Low life drug bosses deluded young boys into "thinking they are gangsters" by grooming them to be foot soldiers on Snapchat and promising them new phones.
Recent court cases show how Liverpool-based drug bosses are ensnaring vulnerable young people into selling heroin and crack cocaine.
Most recently, Devon and Cornwall Police dismantled a sprawling 'county lines' style organised crime group where nine of the 16 defendants sentenced as part of the operation were under the age of 18, with some as young as 15.
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Another unusual feature was that some of the 15-year-olds had been given the responsibility of directing other young dealers, the Liverpool ECHO reported.
Billy Curtis, 21, by the time of his sentencing at Exeter Crown Court this week, was described as "recruiting" children to sell crack and heroin despite only being 18 himself at the start of the conspiracy.
In February this year, two of the younger gang members, both 14 were caught dealing in an Exeter park. They were each described as enduring childhoods marked by trauma, school exclusion and care, according to reports, usual attributes of the boys targeted.
Judge Anna Richardson told the boys: "Both of you had been manipulated by those above you into thinking this was the life for you. Telling yourselves you were bosses. You were deluded and didn't see the reality of the situation."
In another recent case relating to the south coast, Halewood thug Carl Masher, 24, was jailed for three years over his involvement in a drugs line known as 'Scouse Les', which also resulted in a "young person being safeguarded" by Dorset Police.
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At the head of another North Wales drug conspiracy, despite already being in prison for unrelated offences, was Wavertree career criminal Wesley Hankin.
The case against Hankin, 29, and his henchmen was built when a 14-year-old boy was arrested on the streets of Rhyl after selling Class A drugs to an undercover police officer.
The boy had been in care when he was recruited by Runcorn man Darren Courtney, 25, over Snapchat, who put him in touch with Hankin, who the boy knew only as the "main man".
For the next fortnight the boy was taken all over the country, staying in "trap-houses" and selling drugs. He would go back to Liverpool to get stock.
Hankin was jailed for 10 years and handed a Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Order lasting for 15 years.
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