Police are tackling the evil criminals (Image: Metropolitan Police)
Figures published for the first time today reveal numbers have jumped 80 per cent in just two years. There were 6,993 potential victims last year - up from 5,142 in 2017 and 3,804 in 2016. And disturbing new evidence points to a huge rise in the number of gangs recruiting children into the "county lines" drug trade.
National Crime Agency data shows the number of children identified as victims increased by half compared to 2017, rising from 676 in 2017 to 1,421 last year.
Overall Britons made up the largest nationality of victims, followed by Albanians and Vietnamese.
The number of Britons reported was 1,625 - double that of 2017.
Poverty County lines gangs exploit children to ferry drugs from cities and towns to rural areas - targeting those living in care or trapped in poverty to take advantage of their vulnerability.
They are often groomed, threatened or tricked into trafficking drugs. Some recruits have been blackmailed and sexually abused.
The trade is now thought to be a £500million industry.
Roy McComb, deputy director of the National Crime Agency, said: "The increase is undoubtedly the result of greater awareness, understanding and reporting
"However, the more we look the more we find, and it is likely these figures represent only a snapshot of the true scale of slavery and trafficking in the UK.
"Of particular concern is the increase in referrals made for county lines-type exploitation."
Home Secretary Sajid Javid (Image: Getty Images)
The shocking figures come from the National Referral Mechanism, which identifies victims of modern slavery and human trafficking and provides them with support.
Experts have implored the public to help them expose more criminal activity.
They are particularly worried at the glorification of crime on social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube where children as young as 12 have posed with money and new clothes to glamorise the illicit trade.
The Children's Commissioner estimates at least 46,000 children in England are involved in gang activity.
At least 46,000 children in England are involved in gang activity (Image: Getty Images)
It is thought around 4,000 teenagers in London alone are being exploited through county lines.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid said: "We are doing all we can to banish modern slavery from society and give victims our full support."
Sara Thornton, of the National Police Chiefs' Council, has been appointed Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner to help spearhead the UK's response.
She takes up her role in May.
BOY'S £33K HEROIN DEBT
A BOY aged just 16 has ended up £33,000 in debt to his drug gang masters.
His plight emerged when he appeared before Swindon Crown Court after police seized several hundred grams of heroin from him.
The boy, who will be sentenced next month, ran up the debt when drugs he was carrying earlier were seized and he was held liable by his county lines bosses for their loss.
