Drug dealers are posing as joggers or using fake NHS ID badges to continue their trade during the Covid-19 lockdown, an expert on gangs has found.
Prof Simon Harding, the director of the National Centre for Gang Research at the University of West London, said “county lines” gangs were finding new ways of doing business, as The Guardian writes.
Many dealers were heeding government advice on physical distancing, turning to social media, drive-by sales or letterbox drops to avoid infection, he said.
But some have dressed as joggers to avoid police detection, while others have made fake NHS ID badges to continue street dealing.
“On one hand, they really are heeding government advice on social distancing, but at the same time it is business as usual and as people were panic-buying food, dealers were running bulk deals and selling lockdown party packs,” Harding said.
“Vehicles are being used more often to carry out deals arranged by phone, with products thrown from windows and money chucked on the back seat to keep items clean.”
