Children as young as 12 are being trafficked from Britain’s big cities to peddle crack cocaine in the countryside, a shock documentary claims.
Youngsters known as ‘runners’ are transported hundreds of miles from their homes to flood rural areas with class A drugs.
Urban gangs exploit them with promises of money and status, with some of the runners earning hundreds of pounds a week, according to BBC Three’s Britain’s Teenage Drug Runners.
Worried council chiefs have warned the phenomenon could be the next Rotherham grooming scandal.
Children as young as 12 are being trafficked from Britain’s big cities to peddle crack cocaine in the countryside, a shock documentary claims
BBC Three’s Britain’s Teenage Drug Runners interviewed crack cocaine cook Mr A (pictured) who told them he did not feel bad about exploiting youngsters to sell drugs
The documentary follows senior London gang member and crack cocaine cook Mr A, who has been involved with drugs since he was 15 and labels crack ‘white gold’.
It is his job to convert high-purity cocaine into crack and then package it up ahead of distribution.
He said: ‘I got thrown out of school, thrown out of college. Life never looked that bright for me.
‘Out on the street, cooking was the next thing that I learned.’
When the crack is divided up into chunks of £10 or £20, it is then put into a bigger stash worth around £1,000 and handed to a runner.
Typically vulnerable teenagers, the runners can earn up to £500 a week selling drugs in the countryside.
The drugs are ‘cooked up’ in major cities such as London before being handed over to runners who then take them to the countryside and sell them to addicts
The gangs can make vast profit on the drugs. Mr A claims this chunk of crack cocaine can net £500
London gangs dominate these rural networks, but there are now reports of other major cities being sucked in, including Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Reading.
One they are out in the countryside, the runners are on call 24 hours a day, even staying out there for as long as their drugs stash lasts, usually two or three weeks.
Drug runner SK said: ‘You’re not really allowed to come back. It’s just working, working, working.’
Senior gang members often arrange a location for the runner to stay at ahead of their arrival.
Runners are often young boys from complicated backgrounds who are lured into a life of crime by promises of riches and respect
Runners are often kept in the countryside for weeks on end until their drug stash runs out
It is often the home of a local drug addict, in a practice known as ‘cuckooing’. The addicts are either paid in drugs or money for the use of the property, though some are forced into it.
The dealers start by supplying the addict and their friends, texting them advertisements offering discounts and offers.
Gradually their customer pool grows and gangs can earn up to £3,000 a day from the one supply line.
And they can last years before the police swoop.
The practice has been described as ‘the next big grooming scandal’ by council bosses who compared it to the Rotherham sex cases.
The government has announced a crackdown on gangs who operate in this way and plan to introduce new laws to give police the power to block phone lines used to sell drugs.