POLICE arrested two men, charging one with drugs and slavery offences, and found 100 wraps of crack cocaine and £600 in cash during a week-long crackdown on County Lines activity in Wiltshire.

Wiltshire Police officers carried out welfare checks on 11 vulnerable women and 13 vulnerable men at 40 cuckooed addresses during a nationwide campaign led by National Crime Agency and National Police Chiefs' Council. During their visits, they made the two arrests and confiscated property.

Det Insp Paul Franklin said: “County Lines gangs from big cities are a real problem which is closer to home that some people might think. Wiltshire may seem like a quiet, leafy county but the reality is that some young and vulnerable people living in our communities are being exploited by these gangs who get them to do their dirty work. The people purchasing the drugs, who are often vulnerable themselves, regularly commit crime to fund their habit. It's a spiral we want to help them break.

"Targeting those who operate in Wiltshire, intending to selling class A drugs, remains a priority for us and we will carry on demonstrating that this is an unattractive place for those involved in County Lines drug dealing."

Jordan Essien from Queen's Road in Lewisham, London, was arrested in the capital following an investigation by Wiltshire Police's dedicated crime team into crack cocaine and heroin being supplied from London into the Salisbury and Amesbury areas since June 2018. He was charged with human trafficking and being concerned in the supply of class A drugs heroin and crack cocaine. A 17-year-old man arrested on suspicion of possessing class A drugs in Salisbury was released while investigations continue.