LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined Merseyside Police in an early morning raid on a home in Liverpool as he vowed to smash thousands of gangs operating across the country.
It comes as the UK government prepares to set out its 10-year drugs strategy for England and Wales, with a police crackdown to cut off the supply of class A drugs by city-based crime rings to the surrounding county areas.
The strategy will include what ministers say will be the biggest increase in investment and recovery in an attempt to end the cycle of addiction and repeat offending.
Johnson joined officers from the Merseyside Police who carried out two warrants, in the Kirkdale and Anfield areas, arresting two people. It’s part of an investigation into County Lines drug dealing and child criminal exploitation in Merseyside called Project Medusa.
The Home Office said there are 300,000 heroin and crack addicts in England who are responsible for nearly half of acquisitive crime, including burglary and robbery, while drugs drive nearly half of all homicides. The total cost to society is put at nearly £20bn a year.
Speaking to reporters at Lime Street Station, Johnson said, “We’re not going to sit idly by when you have lifestyle users also using Class A drugs, and we’re going to be coming down tougher on them.”
“Also we’re investing massively in the police, as you know we’re putting 20,000 more officers out on the streets. I think we have already recruited 11,000,” he added.
Mr Johnson also said the Government is investing in the criminal justice and prison system to support police – both areas subjected to crippling cuts during the years of austerity policy. “There’s no point in making the arrests, if we can’t have the disposals, if we can’t move them through the criminal justice system,” he added.
