Island needs ‘collaborative approach’ to tackling county lines

'Unscrupulous' drug dealers exploiting young people say police

The Isle of Man needs to take a ‘collaborative approach’ to tackling organised criminal gangs who are exploiting young and vulnerable people.

That’s the message from police who are working with their counterparts in Merseyside in a bid to tackle the issue of ‘county lines’.

They want to stop criminal gangs from coercing others into transporting, and storing, drugs and criminal cash.

Detective Inspector Jamie Tomlinson was responsible for spearheading the Island’s first conference on drugs and exploitation which took place last week.

He says the issue of county lines is a prevalent one even on the Isle of Man:

The conference brought together professionals from secondary schools, the Financial Intelligence Unite, customs, Financial Supervision Authority, the Isle of Man Post Office and Manx Care.

Yesterday we hosted a conference about drugs and the exploitation of young people on the island. The main topic was county lines, which in the UK involves dealing drugs over different areas of the country. Organised criminal gangs use modern technology to facilitate this activity pic.twitter.com/KqZde47YLu

— TweetbeatIOM #RespectIOM (@TweetbeatIOM) July 1, 2022

Detective Inspector Tomlinson, who works within the drug and organised crime unit at Police Headquarters, has called for a ‘joined up local response’.

He says with more drugs reaching Manx shores – including cannabis and cocaine – everyone needs to be vigilant: