County Lines (Paperback)

County Lines - the new breed of exploitation plaguing the streets of a town near you. If you've heard any news report on the upsurge in knife crime recently, you'll have heard the words 'county lines'. From the street slang that was once known as 'going country' - it sees powerful drugs gangs supplying outside of the capital through an underworld 'emerging markets enterprise', using children as young as 12 and vulnerable men and women to do their dirty work. Teens whose bereaved relatives assume they led ordinary lives, who tell us they were 'good kids', suddenly end up stabbed to death with no seeming motive. At night, on a usually quiet suburban street, a massive knife fight erupts and two kids end up on life support. Their parents tell the news they weren't in a gang ... What is really going on? Jason Farrell, Home Editor at Sky News, is the man with the inside story. In this fearless, hard-hitting account, Farell shares in terrifying detail the story of the county lines phenomenon through the words of gang members and their victims themselves as well as the police and the country's leading experts. Through exclusive interviews and meticulous research, Farrell paints a vivid picture of how this murky world operates he reveals the devastating effects County Lines is having upon the UK... and beyond... and, most terrifying of all, why this new, sinister crime wave means nobody is safe.