Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin

Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going

Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421

From the Sun today, the above and:

A COUNTY lines gang leader who flooded communities in Scotland with heroin has been jailed for more than six years. Lee Campbell ran the county lines operation which transported the Class A drug from his home city of Liverpool to Aberdeen. Merseyside Police carried out an investigation where the 36-year-old was identified as running the network using his mobile phone.

Cumbria Constabulary assisted in his arrest on 15 July this year where officers intercepted Campbell as he drove his Land Rover Defender southbound on the M6 motorway through Cumbria. Officers in the north of Scotland have warned county lines gangs are flooding communities with “foot soldiers” to peddle crack cocaine and heroin, detectives have warned. One detective compared the problem to a game of whack-a-mole because as soon as they make arrests, more gang members are sent north of the border to continue the drug dealing networks.

Criminals take advantage of local addicts, using their homes to deal from in exchange for free drugs.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/16820912/drug-gang-leader-jailed-heroin-scotland-streets/

How new is all this? At least 8 years now, based on this Liverpool Echo report:

The ‘Scottish‘ media above collectively hanging on to our drug deaths sadness and discounting any progress.

Utterly ignored by ‘your’ media but in the Liverpool Echo in November 2022, above, and:

A series of raids across Scotland last week highlighted the continuing focus of Merseyside’s organised crime groups on the drugs market north of the border. Last week officers from Merseyside Police teamed up with Police Scotland for raids in Peterhead, Aberdeen and in Knowsley. On Wednesday, November 2, Police Scotland raided an address in Peterhead where cocaine and heroin were recovered and a man and woman arrested.

Debate has been raging north of the border over how to handle drug-related deaths, which have remained high for a number of years and show little sign of significantly reducing. Scotland still has the highest number of drug deaths in Europe. In 2021, 1,295 deaths were linked to illicit drugs in Scotland, albeit down from 1,411 in 2020 which represented the highest number on record.

Liverpool based street gangs do not appear to have been phased by the misery, death and addiction on the streets of Glasgow and other Scottish cities and towns, however. In 2018, a National Crime Agency (NCA) annual strategic assessment said: “Significant serious organised crime connections exist between Scotland and the north west of England, predominantly Merseyside. https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-drugs-gangs-still-eye-25476347

Was any of that reported by BBC Scotland, STV? I can find nothing.

The Liverpool Echo is making a clear causal connection between Liverpool drug gangs, the flood of cheap, more powerful, drugs into Scotland and our still far too high drug deaths. Why are Scotland’s media ignoring that?

Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin

Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going

Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421