Child exploitation the focus for County Lines Intensification Week

Warrants, arrests and safeguarding visits were carried out during County Lines Intensification Week (CLIW) – the national week of action to target county lines drug dealing.

The week also involved disrupting the supply of drugs and raising awareness of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE).

CCE formed a large part of the week’s communications activity via the force’s ‘What’s Behind It’ campaign to reach youth audiences on Snapchat.

We also promoted Are You Listening, the force’s established short film about recognising the signs of exploitation, to reach trusted adults including parents, teachers and those working with children and young people.

There was an exploitation awareness advert that went out on Spotify - a first for the force – to reach 13 to 17-year-olds, which was played more than 1,000 times a day during February.

Specialist messaging platform SOLV was also used for the first time to reach young people in hotspot locations.

County lines is the term used to describe drug dealing where mobile phones are used to supply drugs from large cities to towns and rural areas. County lines are run by ‘line holders’ and the runners, often vulnerable people, deliver the drugs. This system of drug distribution can lead to serious violence and exploitation.

Enforcement activity during the week, which took place between Monday 2 March until Sunday 8 March, included a partnership operation with British Transport Police at South Wigston railway station.

Joint visits to vulnerable people were carried out by neighbourhood officers and partner organisations. Other partnership enforcement included property seizures with support from the DVLA, Trading Standards and Licensing.

During the week of activity, we:

• Seized 147 cannabis plants
• Recovered two bin liners of cannabis
• Made 10 arrests
• Seized 99kg of shisha totalling £29,700
• Seized counterfeit tobacco and vapes totalling £41,600
• Seized counterfeit clothing totalling £5,550
• Seized three vehicles for having no insurance or MOT and made an arrest for drug driving

Items seized during the enforcement

Detective Inspector James White, who oversaw the week of activity said: “We take a prevention‑first approach to tackling county lines, because we know this type of drug dealing is closely linked to some of the most serious violence we see.

“Leicestershire Police remains absolutely committed to protecting our communities and bringing to justice those who profit from violence, coercion and exploitation.

“Our priority is safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. We work tirelessly to shield them from harm while relentlessly pursuing those who target and exploit them — not just during this dedicated week of action, but every single day of the year.

“By working closely with our partner organisations, we’re able to intervene earlier, respond more effectively and keep our communities safer. This collaborative approach continues to deliver strong results, and we’re proud of what we’ve achieved together.”

Detective Inspector Michelle Goddard, from our child exploitation team, said: “The force continues to work alongside representatives from several partner agencies to tackle county lines offending and exploitation of children in criminality.

“The force has a specialist, dedicated multi-agency child exploitation team made up from representatives of different organisations who share information and work together to keep children and young people safe.

“We really support the forces CCE campaigns as effective ways to inform young people and trusted adults how to spot the signs if a child or young person is being exploited.”

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews said: “We have a clear duty to protect our communities from the drugs trade and the crime that it drives. I have always believed that the best way to do this is prevention and wholeheartedly support the force’s campaign to educate and raise awareness of county lines.

“It’s clear that this operation has been a success, but I want to stress that proactive work is taking place all year round across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to tackle this abhorrent problem.”