Professor Coral Dando, Professor in Psychology, was interviewed in The Sunday Times about gangs grooming parents to draw children into the drug trade.
The article states that criminals are recruiting teenage drug mules by showering deprived families with gifts and cash. The general consensus is that these traffickers manipulate vulnerable mothers into thinking they are good role models for their children before drawing them into crime.
Professor Dando, who is a former police officer, said: “[The drug dealers] will be able to spot the minor ways parents are struggling to bring up their children. The family might not have a car, or the kids aren’t dressed the same as the other children in their neighbourhoods. They spot them and they move towards grooming their parents and, in return, they’re brought into the households.”
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