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END OF THE LINE
I dealt heroin & crack at 14 for a county lines gang – I had no fear & only stopped after horror incident in a drug den
Nequela Whittaker made a jaw-dropping amount of money during her time in drug gangs
SOME girls dream of being influencers, others of being vets, or lawyers.
At the age of 14, Nequela Whittaker wanted to be the biggest drug dealer in South London.
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The ambition led to being targeted and recruited by a drug gang which then used her as a mule to traffic narcotics across the UK.
“I thought that if I was going to be bad, I might as well be good at being bad,” Nequela, 35, tells Fabulous.
Eventually, she was caught and jailed.
Today she has turned her life around and now helps other young people who are groomed and trafficked by gangs in what are known as ‘county lines’ dealing operations.
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"I wanted nicer things and more expensive stuff, so I started to sell crack and heroin"
Eloquent, open and smart, she is a perfect example of how people can turn their lives around if they’re given the right opportunities.
Nequela had a tough start in life.
She grew up on an estate in Brixton and although as youngster she enjoyed football, dance, performing arts, athletics and even played the violin, she fell in with a bad crowd when she was a teenager, started her own gang and was lured by the easy money of drug dealing.
“We started a criminal enterprise,” she admits. “I wanted nicer things and more expensive stuff, so I started to sell crack and heroin to users I befriended on the estate where I lived.
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"It expanded to where I was recruited by a drug gang at the age of 16 and started transporting drugs up and down the country in a typical county lines operation.”
The phrase ‘county lines’ describes the business model organised crime gangs (OCGs) use to transport and sell drugs outside their territory.
The ‘county line’ is the name given to the mobile phone line used to take orders for drugs.
In county lines operations, children as young as 12 are coerced and manipulated to work in these distribution networks.
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Teenagers are commonly enticed with expensive phones or trainers or given drugs until they are indebted to the gang, which then often uses violence and fear to control them.
Teenage girls and young women are increasingly targeted for recruitment into county lines operations because they attract less attention from police.
The gangs use devious and manipulative methods to befriend victims.
Some offer girls beauty treatments such as Botox, false lashes, nails and lip filler as a way to groom them and gain their trust.
St Giles Trust is a charity which helps vulnerable young people.
Last year, its SOS project supported 382 young people to leave or reduce their involvement in county lines and other exploitative activities.
Project founder Junior Smart OBE warns that girls and young women often fall off the radar of official bodies because resources are mainly focused on boys.
He explains: “Young women are often targeted because they are perceived as a lower risk, being seen as less likely to attract attention from the police or other authorities.
"Criminals exploit vulnerabilities such as poverty, trauma, or isolation, knowing these individuals may be more susceptible to manipulation.
"Girls and young women are increasingly at risk of criminal exploitation.”
Indeed, girls and young women accounted for nearly a third of the new child criminal exploitation cases seen by St Giles last year.
How do you know if County Lines drug dealing is happening in your area?
Some signs to look out for include:
- An increase in visitors and cars to a house or flat
- New faces appearing at the house or flat
- New and regularly changing residents (e.g different accents compared to local accent
- Change in resident's mood and/or demeanour (e.g. secretive/ withdrawn/ aggressive/ emotional)
- Substance misuse and/or drug paraphernalia
- Changes in the way young people you might know dress
- Unexplained, sometimes unaffordable new things (e.g clothes, jewellery, cars etc)
- Residents or young people you know going missing, maybe for long periods of time
- Young people seen in different cars/taxis driven by unknown adults
- Young people seeming unfamiliar with your community or where they are
- Truancy, exclusion, disengagement from school
- An increase in anti-social behaviour in the community
- Unexplained injuries
And although it’s often assumed that girls are groomed by men, Nequela’s introduction to county lines came through a female friend’s sister.
“I was homeless at the time, moving from place to place and having a tough time and she was someone I looked up to,” she explains.
Once recruited the gang sent her all over the UK with consignments of cannabis, heroin, cocaine and ecstasy.
She travelled to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham and made between £43,000 and £63,000 during her teenage years.
She became a trusted member of the gang and was never scared of being targeted by rival gangs.
“I had a very big ego. I didn't walk with fear,” she says.
But eventually in 2007 when she was 17, she was caught.
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“I was on my way to Aberdeen to do a job and I got caught at the train station. I was arrested and put in the cells for five days.
"Then I got bail and came back to London where I went on the run. I knew I was facing a jail sentence but at that age I couldn’t face prison mentally,” she says.
“I went under the radar and got my mind right before it was time for me to go.”
Nequela managed to evade arrest for a year before she was finally caught and arrested in London and then taken back to Scotland to stand trial.
In October 2008 she pled guilty to intent to supply crack, heroin and class B drugs and was given a four-year sentence, of which she served just under a year.
She admits that prison did nothing to rehabilitate her.
“I came out in 2009 and I tried to get work, but I was struggling to find a good job. It felt like going one step forward and ten steps back.
"I needed money so I went back to dealing, but that life was leading me to risky situations,” she explains.
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One day, Nequela was with a friend in a drug den in London selling drugs when two men locked them both in a room and started to beat her male friend.
Nequela managed to call a cousin who was part of a respected street gang in the 1980s and he rushed over and used his influence to get her out.
“It was the worst thing I've ever experienced,” she shivers. “That was the day I turned my whole life around.
"It was too close; it could have ended very differently. I needed to go all in and get myself a job and navigate the right pathway.”
But as many young people trying to break from drug gangs discover, it was not easy going straight.
Nequela had to cut herself off from most of the people she knew.
“You have to get rid of all the friends who are involved in that lifestyle. You've got to be mindful of the people that you're meeting and any partners who may be involved in that kind of life,” she explains.
“Not everybody has the tenacity to keep going. It is hard to find a job and be accepted because there is so much stigma against people who have been involved in that life.”
It is believed that at least 27,000 children are county lines gang members, according to a statement made in Parliament in 2023.
And a staggering 120,000 children are also estimated to experience other risks associated with child criminal exploitation, such as emotional and physical harm and sexual violence.
There are reports that some gangs even brand the children they exploit.
The Home Office established a County Lines programme in 2019 and since then more than 5,000 drug lines have closed and, as of March 2023, more than 8,817 individuals had been referred by police to safeguarding.
Nequela now helps young people at risk of being lured in by these drug gangs.
She signed up to the Youth Leadership Apprentice Programme and in 2013 went to Goldsmiths University to study a degree in applied social science, community development and youth work.
She now runs her own business called Committed Empowered Original and has also written a memoir about her experiences, Street Girl, which has been turned into a theatre production.
She’s noticed that the gangs are evolving, and that social media is now increasingly used as a recruitment tool.
“I've seen how easy it is for young people to be lured in,” she warns. “There are group chats where somebody anonymously offers the opportunity to make money, and kids jump at the chance.
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4 reasons why gang and knife crime is on the rise in the UK
Simon Harding, Professor of Criminology at the University of West London explains...
1. The evolution of street gangs
According to his research, the most significant change is in the average age of gang members. Previously, members older than 21/22 would leave the gang. Now, gang members are staying on and attracting younger members - the groups are getting increasingly crowded. This also means there is more and more competition for those who want to get to the top.
2. County lines and the drug market
County Lines are drug distribution and supply networks that run from large cities to provincial towns, smaller cities and seaside resorts. The National Crime Agency reports 800 lines running from London and approximately 2500 county lines running nationally.
Behind the operations of these county lines, urban street gangs are engaging in criminal exploitation. Through the grooming and recruiting of young people, groups employ children and youths to operate for them in localised areas.
3) The impact of social media
In Simon’s opinion, the influence of social media is pervasive and exacerbates the severity of the situation.
"Social media acts as what I would call ‘an accelerant’ and pours petrol on the flames" of drugs and country lines, he says.
4) The ‘Landscape of Fear’
A mixture of all these elements can lead to a ‘landscape of fear’ for young people who live in deprived communities. Even if they are not in a gang it can lead to young people feeling that they need self-protection and thus the need for a knife.
Information taken from .
"We may not see the recruiters on the street, at the chicken shop or in the parks anymore, but they're on the phones of these young people.”
For parents worried that their children are being targeted, there are signs to look out for.
These include changes in a child's behaviour, the appearance of unexplained money or possessions beyond the child’s means, increased secrecy, changes in friend groups and routines, truancy and the use of multiple phones or SIM cards.
“Early intervention is key, so parents should maintain open communication with their children and seek professional support if concerned,” advises Junior.
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“Breaking free from county lines is challenging but possible with the right support. We advise reaching out for help from trusted organisations like St Giles.”
And as Nequela proves, there is life beyond the gangs.
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