THE extent which London-based drug gangs are operating in north Hampshire - and the work police are doing to combat them - has come under the microscope.

North Hampshire is facing the same scale of so-called county lines drug dealing as that seen in major cities such as Southampton and Portsmouth, it was reported at a conference attended by The Gazette last week, where the issue was described as a ‘very real problem across the county’.

The conference looked particularly at the issue of county lines - drug gangs from outside the area, usually London, dealing most commonly heroin and crack cocaine with an array of threats to people living in north Hampshire such as the exploitation of children for drug running and vulnerable adults as drug users; cuckooing; violence, intimidation and coercion; and knife crime.

The event was attended by representatives from the police, social services, charities and more to strengthen the unity between partners on the frontline in the fight against drug dealing and its societal effects and share successes.

Across Hampshire, police identified more than 120 county lines being active in 2017/18.

Police reported that four of the 10 London gangs identified as the most violent in the capital by Met Police are running county lines in north Hampshire.

However, Phil Brindley, an intelligence analyst at Hampshire Constabulary who led a presentation at the conference, said the inter-gang violence seen in London’s so-called ‘postcode wars’, are not yet being seen in the county.

He added: “It seems they are happy to suspend rivalries in Hampshire. It seems that the business is more important than other factors.

“London gangs have really established a foothold in Basingstoke and Andover over a long period of time. They rebrand themselves but it is the same networks sitting behind the county lines, sat in their flats or houses back in London.”

Also at the conference, police revealed an operation, called Spoken, in which they took out one county line in which children from Basingstoke were being exploited, including sexually, in a developing trend as often London gangs are using children away from their ‘home patch’ for such purposes.

Despite this near seven-month-long operation last year, in which officers continue to support victims, police believe they are not yet seeing such exploitation as often in the counties as is seen in London.

It was explained at the conference that steps had been taken to stamp out such exploitation of children by different organisations working together, with lessons learned from Operation Spoken.

Former Basingstoke inspector Ben Taylor said at the conference: “We got some intelligence that local gangs were stopping the exploitation of children as they felt there was now more focus on them (the children) with social workers asking questions etc. The drug gangs didn’t leave but it meant the young people were getting a bit of relief from exploitation.

“It is always going to be a challenge but we have something in place to deal with trafficking and exploitation now.”

Opening the conference, Chief Inspector Matt Reeves, the Basingstoke district commander but also the force’s tactical lead for its drug impact-combatting Fortress operation, said: “This is about drugs but it is also about protecting the most vulnerable and tackling the people seeking to exploit them.”