PARENTS should keep their eyes peeled for the eight ball emoji on their children’s phones, police have warned.
While the popular icon can have innocent uses – it also has a darker, hidden meaning that can indicate criminal activity.
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Surrey Police believe the eight ball emoji is being used by ‘drug runners’ to advertise their services.
Or, by young people as a code for drugs they are buying.
The emoji, police believe, stands for buying an eight of an ounce (3.5g) of drugs, known as an ‘eight ball’.
The slang term is most frequently used to refer to cocaine – which can separately be disguised as the snowflake emoji.
Although an eight ball emoji can also be used in reference to cannabis or heroin.
Drug dealers and criminal organisations are understood to use a raft of emoji “as code for drug, violence and sexual activities,” according to Surrey Police.
Netflix’s show Adolescence showed just how unaware parents can be to the hidden meaning behind emoji.
The success of the hit show prompted cops to hand parents a “periodic table of sinister emoji” which are said to hide violent messages.
Some 60 symbols – from an eight ball to kidney beans referring to an incel, an involuntary celibate – were included in the chart.
They can be used in text exchanges or on social media platforms.
And it’s not the only emoji associated with drug dealing.
In drug slang, a dealer is often referred to as a ‘plug’, so drug users will frequently use the electrical plug emoji.
Each drug also typically has its own emoji icon.
Cannabis, for example, is often disguised as a leaf or tree emoji.
While a horse emoji can be used to refer to Ketamine – a nod to the drug being used as a horse tranquilliser.
Surrey Police warned that vulnerable young people are at risk of being recruited in ‘county lines’ smuggling, where drugs are brought from cities into rural areas.
“Criminal networks use social media to groom and recruit children for county lines,” said police.
“They may send them direct messages (knowns as ‘DMs’), or share messages to wider groups as ‘stories’ or ‘posts’.”
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