A police officer on the frontline of the fight against drug gangs in north Kent says the sheer numbers of people involved means it may never be won.

County line operations flooding in from cities like London into Dartford, Gravesend and Medway are reducing but not fast enough for police to shut down every network.

The huge operation against the brazen nature of deals taking place and volume of gangs featured on the BBC's Panorama programme which aired on Monday night after camera crews followed Kent Police counter-drug operations during lockdown from early March 2020.

Police say drug dealing on the streets of Kent has become more and more blatant especially during the pandemic.

At its height, there were about 65 different lines coming into Kent supplying drugs to dealers and the selling to users on the streets in towns throughout the county, many of which are using teenagers to run drugs.

But in the past year some 300 arrests have been made and officers believe the number of lines has reduced by a third to 46 as they begin to make some inroads into the problems.

The Operation Raptor team based at Medway Police Station is set to be expanded with more than 70 officers fighting drug crime.

County lines drug gangs are operating in Medway

"It's not a war because a war ends," says PC Rob Parker. "It's just a constant battle.

"Take him out and one steps in and we take them out and someone else steps in – that's just the game."

Kent's chief constable Alan Pughsley says most of the lines – which start with dealers in cities before distributing to networks in smaller towns – originate from London.

"County lines drug dealers are a sophisticated, organised and incredibly violent group of individuals," Ch Con Pughsley says.

"This is not a glamorous lifestyle. It's horrendous and violent and if you get into it, it's very hard to get out."

Is enough being done to snuff out drug gangs in Kent

Gangs mostly operate selling crack cocaine and heroin with some single lines turning in profits of £800,000 every year and many are also linked to gun and knife crime due to the violent lengths gangs will go to defend their turf.

Kent officers are working closely with other forces including Met Police and British Transport Police and throughout operations are trying to identify the "snake's head" and find out who is co-ordinating activities.

Lockdown saw dealers adapt to conditions as there was less hiding in plain sight using people out and about as cover for deals taking place.

But by mid-summer drug dealing and the police activities to track them down has returned to normal with busyness of deals and intelligence gathering just as prevalent as pre-pandemic levels.

The human price of the drug dealing is evidenced through runners becoming victims of torture, kidnap and assault when they try to leave the network.

Kent Police and Met Police officers raid the Simmy Line in Chatham last September

Police identified a video originating in Gravesend of a suspected drug gang beating a man which had been circulated on Snapchat by an account believed to be linked to a county line.

It showed a 33-year-old man suffering horrific injuries caused by scalding, burns, beatings and other nasty injuries.

But officers were able to trace where the video had been sent from and raided the property arresting three men on suspicion of the attack and supplying drugs.

Charlie Saunter last month pleaded guilty to charges along with William O'Brian and a 17-year-old boy. All three are awaiting sentence.

Nikki Hollands, director of investigations at the National Crime Agency, said virtually all police forces in the country are now affected by county lines drug dealing compared to less than a dozen just seven years ago.

Extra funding to tackle drug crime from the government has meant Kent Police has doubled the size of its drug investigation teams in the past year.

Police say the system of drug dealers travelling to London to collect supplies to then sell locally has reversed and it is the drugs which now are brought directly into the heart of communities.

Chatham has gained a reputation and is known to drug users as 'Browntown' – brown being another name for heroin.

Mike Williams, a disruption officer has worked on the streets in Medway for the last decade, says users will regularly shoplift and steal items to sell to pay for their drugs.

Police are regularly targeting the road known as Pig Alley, through Luton, identified by police as a hotbed of alleys and sidestreets where drug deals take place and players in drug rings are well known to police.

He arrests a drug dealer operating on the streets of Medway and identifies the Ace phone line of drug supplies known to be operating in the Towns.

Phone lines which the drug networks run through are given nicknames so that dealers can build their reputation and brands but without identifying the ringleaders.

Police say the dealing in Kent – particularly in Dartford – has been getting worse with more robberies of phones taking place for junior runners in the gangs to take burner phones back to the main leaders in London.

Any seized phones during arrests can help feed into the police intelligence gathering operation to hopefully identify further contacts and links further up the drug dealing chain.

Evidence is then reviewed monthly to decide which leads to prioritise after analysis of the intelligence secured interprets which are the most dangerous drug lines.

Analysts take into account whether firearms have been found and if there is a risk of harm or involvement of children or vulnerable adults, who are often targeted and groomed by gangs into selling drugs.

The programme features the arrest of Jamal Fournillier, who police identified as a key player in a network known as the Jem line.

He was charged in February 2020 following raids at properties in Rochester and Wainscott which discovered drugs, £3,000 cash and a handgun.

The 27-year-old is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to multiple charges.

A dealer from Rochester, George Dempsey, who featured after police raided a house in Wilson Avenue in February 2020 was sentenced for three years in prison.

Labour councillors at Medway Council say there needs to be greater levels of protection for communities identified by police as crime hotspots.

Cllr Tris Osborne, opposition spokesman for community safety and one of three Labour ward members for Luton and Wayfield, said: "It is welcome Kent Police are conducting operations to combat ‘Lines networks’ with the support of residents in relation to drug dealing and supply from London.

"Pig Alley in Luton is a well-known location with serious social problems with drug dealing, fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour that have been ongoing for years.

“It is time Medway Council and MHS Homes, the social housing provider for the Estate adjacent to Pig Alley, invested in CCTV and withdraw the proposal for a vulnerable youth foyer merely yards away from this location.

“We are calling on the Community Safety Partnership to prioritise extension of Public Space Protection Orders in inner urban areas and to give communities the confidence in increasing CCTV in areas that the Police are highlighting are areas of community concern."

Cllr Simon Curry said work carried out by the police had been instrumental in making improvements in the area.

He added a new Neighbourhood Plan to bring much-needed investment to the area would better prospects and jobs for the community.

Panorama: Drugs, Cops and Lockdown is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

To get the latest updates in ongoing cases, police appeals and criminals put behind bars, click here

Read more: All the latest news from Dartford

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