County Lines is where illegal drugs are transported from one area to another, often across police and local authority boundaries, usually by children or vulnerable people who are coerced into it by gangs.

The 'County Line' is the mobile phone line used to take the orders of drugs.

A common feature in county lines drug supply is the exploitation of young and vulnerable people. Dealers will frequently target children and adults - often with mental health or addiction problems - to act as drug runners or to move cash.

In some cases dealers will take over a local property, normally belonging to a vulnerable person, and use it to operate their criminal activity from. This is known as cuckooing.

People exploited in this way will quite often be exposed to physical, mental and sexual abuse, and in some instances will be trafficked to areas a long way from home as part of the network's drug dealing business.

Read more about County Lines on the Dorset Police website.