West Midlands Police shuts 418 drug lines, jails dealers for 545 years

West Midlands Police's county lines taskforce closed over 400 drug lines and jailed 89 criminals in one year. Nearly £500,000 was recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Over 400 county lines dismantled across West Midlands in a single year

West Midlands Police has shut down 418 county lines drug operations and jailed 89 dealers for a combined total of 545 years, according to westmidlands.police.uk. The force's dedicated county lines taskforce carried out hundreds of arrests between April 2025 and March 2026, recovering almost £500,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Among those jailed were two dealers running a Class A drug line operating under the name "Frankie", which supplied Birmingham city centre, Balsall Heath, Moseley and Selly Oak. The phone number linked to that line received more than 81,000 calls, made 28,000 outbound calls and exchanged 25,000 text messages between August 2023 and October 2024.

Police say dealers use dedicated phone lines to broadcast mass messages to potential buyers, advertising drug availability and prices. In some cases, vulnerable individuals — including children and people with mental health or addiction problems — are exploited to distribute the drugs.

The taskforce worked alongside neighbourhood policing teams across the force's seven local policing areas to gather intelligence and dismantle supply networks.

Detective Inspector Mark Robinson, who leads the taskforce, said the unit would continue to "target, disrupt and destroy" county lines activity. "We are committed to shutting down drug networks and putting those who run them behind bars," he said. "It's very clear the taskforce is making a real impact in tackling the scourge of drugs which not only ruin lives, but also contribute to other crimes to fund habits. We've managed to close down hundreds of lines and ensure dealers have been taken off the streets for a long time."

Source: Google News UK — Crime (en)