Message from Devon and Cornwall Police about a regional operation targetting cross border county lines gangs

Communities across Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are being urged to come forward and report any drug-related activity to help build an intelligence-rich picture as part of a regional campaign to disrupt county lines gangs.

The Operation Scorpion intensification campaign will be taking place across the South West, with exact locations and timings being withheld.

Op Scorpion, now in its sixth iteration since inception, harnesses the collective powers of the region to disrupt drug-related crime and ensure young people and their families are warned about the dangers of exploitation and provided with guidance on how to spot the signs. Police and crime commissioners from Wiltshire, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Avon and Somerset have agreed with their respective chief constables that their Forces, supported by the South West Regional Organised Crime unit (SWROCU), would combine operational powers to tackle cross-border drugs supply, drug-related crime and associated anti-social behaviour as part of this campaign.

Information and intelligence from the public is a key tool to enabling Devon & Cornwall Police to focus operational activity on those involved in county lines drugs gangs who ply drugs in our communities and target vulnerable people. County lines is where drugs are transported across the country, usually by children or vulnerable people who are coerced by gangs.