Ruthless drugs gangs target Highlands
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A detective leading the war on drugs in the Highlands has lifted the lid on the worrying tactics being used by ruthless drugs gangs.
Inverness has seen more than its share of drug dealers from the central belt and England targeting it.
It is all part of the so-called “county lines” phenomenon where big city gangs expand their operations into smaller cities and towns.
Earlier this month, six members of a Glasgow-based gang were jailed for a total of 25 years after they were snared by police in Drumnadrochit while en route to Inverness with £600,000 worth of cocaine, heroin and etizolam.
Now Detective Inspector Lynne Baptie has acknowledged that cuckooing – where gangs take over a house within an area to give them a local base from which to operate – is a growing problem in the Highlands.
“They will come to an area, usually a rural area, and take over a person’s home address for the purpose of drug dealing from that address,” she said.
For more see this week's Highland News.
