A SENIOR policeman has lifted the lid on County Lines drug dealing in Barrow.

Mark Webster, the deputy chief constable of Cumbria Police, has provided a special briefing about Operation Horizon to county councillors.

The Class A drugs crackdown has led to 45 arrests locally and nationwide with a number of people being charged with alleged drug offences.

Mr Webster, a former boss at the National Crime Agency in London, said it began in May 2018 - prompted by 12 drug-related deaths in Barrow.

He said the drugs were coming into Barrow primarily via Liverpool, Manchester or Birmingham.

He said: “County Lines offending is a simple business model for criminals. An organised crime group has a phone line. It is a phone line that crosses county boundaries.

“That phone line is used to ring into a community to distribute drugs. It’s a dirty phone line used as a drugs distribution network – that line and that phone number is incredibly valuable to people.

“We target the phone numbers with people on either end because what you have is lots and lots of criminality at either end.”

Vulnerable people in Barrow were being “exploited” to turn dealer for the inner city gangs, he said.

“That’s what’s taken place in Barrow,” said Mr Webster.

He said despite Cumbria Police facing “severe financial challenges,” the county remained among the safest places in the UK.

“We have the second lowest number of crimes of any force in the UK and the lowest reported anti-social behaviour anywhere in England and Wales,” he said.

“The public believes we will deal with their concerns and we are the third best in England and Wales on that measure.”

Mr Webster said the force was rated “good” by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary - one of only 11 forces nationally.

He said: “In a world of ever increasing demand and the increasingly complex nature of what we deal with, that is a fantastic achievement.”

Mr Webster said officers in Cumbria now regularly investigated modern-day slavery, serious and organised crime, cyber crime, child sexual exploitation and non-recent sexual abuse.

“Despite that, our mission is really simple – to keep the people of Cumbria safe. Our job in its simplest form is to take £120 million and turn it into the maximum amount of public protection that we can.”