‘CRACKDOWN on drug dealers’ (The Press, October 21) - this headline reported action in York and North Yorkshire, as a national police operation took place one week in October. Fifty UK drug delivery county lines were targeted, 700 arrests made, £400,000 of drugs confiscated, and 292 children involved in drug trafficking were taken into safeguarding.

Home Office figures report 2000 county lines in the UK. The police operation had sufficient resources and personnel to ‘crackdown’ on 2.5 per cent of the drug trafficking lines.

This operation was sustainable for just one week. Were the majority of drug dealers disrupted?

The combined resources of the entire British Army and police might mount an assault on all 2000 county lines for one week.

With similar success to the October crackdown, the result would be 28,000 arrests, £16 million of drugs confiscated, 11,000 children and 15,000 vulnerable adults moved into protection or safeguarding.

That gives a scale of some of the finance, numbers and ages of people involved in illegal drugs in the UK.

‘Crackdown’ headlines hide the reality. It’s not their fault that the police have neither the resources nor the personnel to combat this vile industry controlled by criminal gangs.

Paul Wordsworth

Burniston Grove, York