On the beat with Hamish the drug dog as he tries to sniff out dealers at Aberdeen Railway Station

The Covid-19 crisis has not reduced the risk of people being targeted to transport drugs into the north-east by rail, it has been revealed.

The British Transport Police along with Police Scotland officers and police dog Hamish carried out an operation at the city’s rail station.

It was part of an ongoing bid to crackdown on county lines crime – where drugs are moved across country from one jurisdiction to another.

Often young people or other vulnerable individuals are used to courier drugs.

Sgt Ashley Forbes of the British Transport Police working on a County Lines Taskforce operation at Aberdeen Train Station. Picture by Wullie Marr / DCT Media.

Sergeant Ashley Forbes, of the British Transport Police in Aberdeen, said the work to target county lines crime was about disrupting the supply before it reaches the city, and in turn, the wider north-east.

He said:  “One thing about Aberdeen is it’s the end destination for so many train operating companies. Once it’s here, and if it’s not caught, it’s quite a big world out there it can be distributed to.”

‘County lines activity is ongoing’

In the last year hundreds of drug seizures and more than 1,000 arrests have been made nationally by the taskforce.

Sgt Forbes said: “In terms of the frequency the county lines activity is ongoing. We don’t just focus on one specific day – it can be any day of the week all year.”

“In the preceding year there was just under 1,300 arrests in relation to county lines activity, there was 685 drugs seizures and about £450,000 seized in cash. Importantly we made 15 referrals to the county lines safeguarding teams.”

And he added that Covid-19 and the lockdowns have not reduced county lines crimes.

He said: “The lockdown and pandemic hasn’t negatively impacted on the risk at all. That risk has remained and so has our activity throughout the pandemic.”

Hamish at work during the operation. Picture by Wullie Marr/DCT Media. ‘Railway used throughout pandemic’

Sgt Forbes said: “Railway is still very actively used throughout the pandemic. One example of that is our stop in January where a number of individuals were stopped at Wigan – £60,000 of drugs was seized. It was later identified that those individuals stopped in Wigan were on their way to Aberdeen.”

During the operation at Aberdeen Railway Station yesterday officers, along with Hamish and his handler, were on alert as passengers arrived in the city from Edinburgh and other destinations.

And nothing gets past Hamish – as two passengers discovered.

One was ultimately found to have a small amount of drugs, classed as personal use and was given a recorded police warning.

The other passenger was given the all-clear after it was revealed they had been unfortunate enough to be sitting next to the other person.

Hamish and his handler. Picture by Wullie Marr / DCT Media. Taskforce works to safeguard the vulnerable

One of the main aims of the taskforce is to identify and safeguard vulnerable children and adults, who are regularly exploited by organised criminals to transport the drugs and cash between locations, often hundreds of miles apart.

Data acquired since the taskforce was set up has shown that groups using the railway for their operations rely on children. The youngest person apprehended nationally was just 13 years old.

Sgt Forbes said the risk of younger people being targeted was higher. He said: “It’s not mainly teenagers, but when compared with partners in other forces in the country we do see a higher increase in those who are under 18 and on average half are under 24 years old.”

Police carrying out a search after taking cues from Hamish. Picture by Wullie Marr. Signs to be on the look out for

Sgt Forbes called on members of the public to stay vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour as often there are warning signs to look out for.

He said: “The British Transport Police work in partnership with the Children’s Society and the national County Lines Strategic taskforce co-ordination centre and we promote the campaign called Look Closer.

“We encourage members of the public travelling on trains and those who work on trains or platforms to look for young people who appear to be anxious or maybe behaving abnormally.

“They may look uncomfortable with the person they are travelling with, so they may be being coerced or controlled as to what activities they are doing.”

“We would encourage people to come forward to report young people travelling during the day – especially during school hours or late at night. They may be under the influence of drink or drugs.

“Members of the public and railway staff can highlight those concerns by contacting British Transport Police on 0800 405040 or text us on 61016 .”