Shocking Tactics from Desperate UK Drug Dealers Disguising as Key Coronavirus Crisis Workers

BRITISH drug traffickers have stooped to a new low by disguising themselves as key workers to avoid the clutches of the police during the country’s Covid-19 lockdown.

Lynne Owens, director-general of the National Crime Agency (NCA), said that drugs gangs were also operating in supermarket car parks, which offer the largest number of people under the current lockdown rules.

“We know that some criminals are finding it harder to transport their commodities and are adapting their methods,” she said

“Our intelligence suggests that they are looking to deal drugs in supermarket car parks, and to portray themselves as key workers to prevent being stopped by police.”

Ms Owens said some dealers were wearing hi-vis jackets and clothing to avoid being stopped by the police, as fewer people are outdoors in the streets.

The global pandemic has made it harder for international gangs to smuggle drugs into Britain.

Owens quoted a case from yesterday (April 14) when a Polish van driver was stopped near Calais carrying a shipmen of face masks – which had 14 kilos of cocaine in them.

“It is evidence of how groups are changing their behaviour,” Owens added.

“There are less drugs in the UK and prices are rising.”

The NCA is monitoring what the lockdown means over gang rivalries, and the potential for greater violence as drug supplies dry up.

Ms Owens said fraudsters were also seizing on the pandemic by selling fake protective equipment, testing kits that do not work or using coronavirus for phishing, ransomware and malware scams.

Six websites linked to scams have already been taken down and 60 more are being monitored by the NCA.