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UK towns are being over-run by drugs gangs, who are recruiting “disposable” child dealers to sell their wares across the country.
One former County Lines gang member told how, when he was still in his teens, he was sent from Gravesend in Kent up to Manchester where he spent two weeks selling heroin and crack to addicts in filthy “trap houses”.
A group of reformed criminals claim thugs are looking to recruit children as young as 12 in Gravesend, Kent.
READ MORE: Europe on brink of 'huge war' as world's deadliest drug cartels becoming 'global'
Kent police said a “large group of people” armed with machetes fought a mass brawl in Gravesend on June 23.
A week later, a plain-clothes police swoop on suspected County Lines gang members led to a total of 10 arrests, with weapons seized including two knives, a dagger and a screwdriver recovered, along with 12 suspect mobile phones.
Some of the youngster were reportedly forced to live in squalid conditions as they sold to "zombie" addicts.
One former gang member told The Sun he may “never recover” from two years in the hands of one of the gangs.
Davi De Oliviera, now 22, got mixed up with the gangsters after he started selling cannabis at the age of 16.
He says gang bosses sent him to Manchester, over 200 miles away, where he was housed in a filthy crack house that was being used as a drugs supermarket.
“The house stank and everything was dirty but I had to stay there,” he said.
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“Before sitting on a sofa," he added, "I used to have to check needles. I barely slept.
“You’re living in horrible environments. It’s really traumatising.
“You’re chilling with crackheads who want you to sell them more crack. They are all f***ed up on drugs, like zombies.”
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Davi was paid hundreds of pounds a week, but he says the stress of working in such grim conditions led to him spending much of his wages on drink and drugs to blot out the misery.
He said: “It’s like the money is cursed. The more you make, the more you need to spend because you’re out on the road all of the time. It’s not a life for anyone.”
Earlier this year, four gang members were sentenced to a total of almost 12 years in prison following the discovery of the 'G-line'.
Kent Police say children as young as 12 were sent to sell crack but told The Sun the number of gangs had almost halved in three years.
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