POLICE in West Yorkshire have seized Class A drugs worth almost £15,000 and arrested 28 people as part of a crime crackdown.

Officers were involved in last week's national County Lines Intensification Week aimed at tackling serious and organised crime.   

A total of £14,970 of Class A drugs including cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin was seized, as well as more than £11,000 in suspected criminal cash.   

Police said they also "safeguarded" 12 males and visited four properties where the occupants were believed to be the victims of cuckooing - where the homes of often vulnerable people are taken over by criminals.   

Seizures of weapons included four machetes and an axe, while three County Lines deal line mobile telephones were also seized.   

Educational inputs also took place at schools, while neighbourhood officers increased activity in the community including at transport hubs such as bus stations and train stations, where they worked with British Transport Police.   

Increased activity took place outside prisons where members of the force’s mounted section undertook patrols.   

Activities to tackle County Lines crime took place during the week-long event which ran from October 9 to 15. 

Detective Inspector Janet Little, of West Yorkshire Police's Programme Precision, which is dedicated to tackling serious and organised crime in West Yorkshire, said: "This period of intensification has seen us tackling County Lines activity on a number of fronts and I am pleased that we have made a number arrests as well as seizing drugs and cash.  

"We have worked with partners to engage with vulnerable people and ensured that those people are safeguarded. 

"The week of activity was carried out as part of Programme Precision, which is West Yorkshire Police's response strategy to tackle the serious and organised crime that can be a blight on our communities."

County Lines is a term used to describe networks of gangs and organised crime groups, who use children, young people and vulnerable adults to carry out illegal activity on their behalf.

This criminal exploitation is known as County Lines as young children travel across counties and use dedicated mobile phone 'lines' to supply drugs.

As well as the storage and supply of drugs, gangs also use children as money mules for the movement of cash proceeds and to secure the use of dwellings, commonly referred to as 'cuckooing.

Criminal gangs groom children into trafficking their drugs for them with promises of money, friendship and status. Once they have been drawn in, children are often controlled using threats, violence and sexual abuse.