COPS seized drugs worth £4.3million and nicked 100 suspected hoods to smash an emerging underworld network, we can reveal.
Detectives rescued kids who had been groomed, uncovered a potentially deadly weapons stash and grabbed £600,000 in dirty cash to dismantle the up-and-coming cocaine cartel.
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Force insiders told how the rising syndicate of dealers had been responsible for exploiting vulnerable children in some of the country’s poorest areas.
The County Lines network of hoods were supplied from safe houses then transported their drugs between areas by car.
Cops made a series of motorway busts to nail alleged couriers as part of Operation Intensity, which was launched in May 2023 to cripple the mobsters’ plot.
Officers went on to raid dozens of properties, recovering 200kg in illegal drugs.
Huge stashes of substances found included heroin, ecstasy, herbal cannabis and other pills.
Weapons including a handgun and airguns were confiscated along with ammunition.
Specialist officers in Police Scotland’s organised crime and counter terrorism unit discovered 11 children at risk while probing the mobsters.
The cops ensured the safety of the youngsters by passing them into the care of relatives or referring them to support agencies.
They made busts in urban and rural areas around the country in the sustained two-year crackdown.
In a motorway swoop in September 2023, officers recovered 11.75kg of cocaine worth £1million on the M74 at Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire.
Five months on, specialist officers confiscated a stash of 5,000 ecstasy tablets valued at £25,000 in Broxburn, West Lothian.
Cops returned to the M74 to seize 61kg of cannabis worth £340,000, at Abington, Lanarkshire, in June 2024.
And a further 5,000 Valium-like etizolam pills thought to be worth £2,500 were taken off the streets in Falkirk the following month.
Crime-fighters following the gang’s trail then discovered 10,000 diazepam pills valued at £20,000 at an address in Glasgow.
Raids continued across the country, including in Argyll and Tayside.
Top cops blasted the criminals for grooming kids.
Detective Superintendent Stevie Elliot revealed 46 search warrants were executed to disrupt the gang.
He added: “This operation is a clear example of how we use our national resources, alongside the knowledge of our local policing teams, to bring down large gangs operating across the country.
“Organised criminal gangs show no shame or remorse for their actions and all their activities are focused on profiting from exploitation.
“This shows our commitment to the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce, where we work with partners on a multi-agency approach to tackle the threat of organised crime gangs.”
County Lines networks are known to trap kids and groom them to shift drugs with promises of cash or threats of violence.
Det Supt Elliot explained: “Our strategy was maximising the safety of the public and protecting vulnerable people, particularly children and young people who are all too often coerced and groomed by County Lines drug dealers.” He urged people to come forward if they have concerns about drugs or organised crime in their communities — insisting police need information to nail more hoods.
Supt Elliot added: “We cannot do this alone and we need the public’s help to rid these gangs from their communities.”