I busted county lines gang that exports school kids like slaves…I've seen desperate kids leap from windows
One of the 17-year-old dealers using the gloomy property in Dunstable, Bedforshire had jumped 40ft in a bid to escape capture.
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They were shocked to see the youngster survived the potentially fatal leap - but he didn't get away.
The savvy officers were able to track him down and the mobile device led them to the kingpin behind an extensive county lines network.
But a new episode of Channel 4's 24 Hours in Police Custody, titled Lost Boys, reveals the fear of gangs that is driving children to such extreme actions.
Gary Hales, an investigating officer from Bedfordshire Police's Boson guns and gangs unit at the time of the arrests, tells The Sun: 'When you are going into a top floor flat you don't expect someone to be jumping out of the window.
"It was amazing he didn't break his legs.
'There is fear. A way the gangs keep these children street dealing is to threaten them and show a bit of force.
'When you are on a lower rung, you have the elders threatening you, you are around the knives, you are around the violence that goes on.'
In the show, which airs on Sunday at 9pm, we see some of the messages sent to a 15-year-old boy called Gavin, not his real name, who has been roped in by the ruthless criminals.
There are threats to stab his mum, including 'wil shank up u mum'.
Officers believe that Gavin has been told he has a drug debt and constantly has to work to pay it off otherwise they will face violent consequences.
They will be told, 'Where is the rest of the money? You had more drugs.'
In fact the teenagers haven't lost any drugs, they are just being told they have in order to keep them in debt.
Adult mob members recruit school children because they are less likely to be sent to prison due to their age.
Gavin's mum has called the police in a desperate state, because he keeps going missing, sometimes for 10 days at a time.
The police suspect he is being sent around various 'trap houses', an American term for a drug den, in different English counties.
'Saturated'
Luton has become so 'saturated' with drug lines that dealers send children far afield.
Gary says: 'In terms of drug lines there are over 100 listed that are Bedfordshire based.
"But then you have county lines going to places like Essex and London trying to muscle in.
'Luton is exporting drug deal lines to places where they are not known to police. We have rescued children from Swindon.
'Drug lines in Luton are saturated, they are known to police.'
Access to Gavin's phone leads the detectives to the flat in Dunstable which is part of a network selling class A drugs including crack cocaine.
Inside the flat is a 14-year-old boy, who has also been recruited by the county lines gangs.
The flat is rented by a 23-year-old former heroin addict who says he allows the dealers to use his property because he doesn't want 'to get my head kicked in'.
He warns: 'Drugs get you involved with stupid people.'
Criminal control
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The pay as you go burner phone found on the window ledge has been topped up in various shops.
By studying the CCTV of those businesses, the police are able to identify an adult higher up in the operation.
When they arrest Jamal Andall in 2020 they find more burner phones and SIM cards in his home, plus crack rocks in his Ford Focus car.
After being questioned, Andall is told he has been given bail and can go home.
But the gangster says: 'I'm not walking home. It's not safe around here. I've been shot. I've been stabbed.'
Remarkably, the police accede to his request and agree to drive him home.
It's not safe around here. I've been shot. I've been stabbed
Jamal Andall
Andall and his fellow drug dealer Alex Anderson, both 30, became the first members of a county lines gang to be convicted of modern slavery offences by Bedfordshire Police.
In February last year Andall was jailed for seven years for being concerned in the supply of heroin, with Anderson receiving six years and four months for the same offence.
They were also sentenced to six years for exploitation and three years for being concerned in the supply of cocaine, but those will be served concurrently.
The court heard that the two men trafficked a 15-year-old boy from Bedfordshire to Lowestoft in Suffolk, where officers found the boy with £3,000 worth of crack cocaine.
Saving the 'lost boys'
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Gary, though, says that 'there is always someone higher up', and that dealers keep finding new recruits.
He says: 'They go to schools and care homes to slip them some cannabis and form a relationship with them.
'They might give you a top up for your phone, you'll think it's free, but nothing is free, there is going to be a pay day for that.
'They pull them into what is an organised crime group."
The key to disrupting their business model is to stop children getting so entangled they don't think they can escape.
A parent will notice a change in their child, whether they have got new clothes they can't afford or they are missing school
Gary Hales
He says: 'As a police force we are about protecting the community, and that means safeguarding these youngsters who have become dissociated and get pushed into these paths.'
Bedfordshire police launched a Lost Boys campaign to inform parents, teachers and pupils about the warning signs.
Gary says: 'Generally, a parent will notice a change in their child, whether they have got new clothes they can't afford or they are missing school.'
If they can't be pulled back from the drugs underworld, the consequences can be fatal.
As Gary points out: 'Many of the murders we see in towns like Luton are drug-related.'
The lad who jumped out of the window was lucky - he might not be so fortunate next time.
24 Hours in Police Custody: Lost Boys, stream or watch live on Channel 4 from July 13 at 9pm.
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