The ordinary town that scared locals fear is turning into UK's new gang capital
Locals have complained that their town has become plagued by gun-carrying drug runners.
Scared residents of an ordinary British town have said they fear the area is turning into the country's gang capital.
Swindon, in southwest England, is one of the area's major towns and home to 233,700 people, according to the latest census data.
The number of people finding their way to the town has increased recently, with squads of teenage mules infiltrating the community to sell drugs.
They are reportedly making the 50-minute-long journey from London to the area to sell caches of cocaine to locals.
And they are protecting their business in a particularly scary fashion, Swindon residents have said.
The Sun has reported that "county lines" gangs have taken over the local drug trade and are facilitating the paths of mules out west from the capital.
One unnamed local told the publication that "almost every drug deal" done in Swindon is "off the back of county lines".
They added that bosses work by grooming local suffering teens and bribing them with money and free drugs to become runners.
The runners, dubbed "cuckoos" are conducting business in "literally hundreds of houses and flats throughout the town", the resident continued, complaining that "no one is doing anything about it".
Don't miss...
Met officer attacked cop after driving Lamborghini to take drugs with students [REPORT]
Derek Chisora admits doing drugs in wild Joe Joyce press conference [LATEST]
Nightclub enforces toilet rule – break it and face 'lifetime ban' [INSIGHT]
The source added that dealers will wield knives and even guns to protect their business, a claim backed up by another resident.
The other local, a woman in her 20s who lives in Pinehurst, one of several housing estates that make up the "P-town" area in the city, said she has witnessed threatening behaviour firsthand.
She told The Sun she saw a fight break out between rival dealers in what appeared to be a "turf war" in which a man pulled out a gun.
She said: “I was at a party at my friend’s house a few months ago, and a huge row erupted between two gangs of teenage youth outside.
“We went outdoors to see what was going on, and it was pretty clear it was about some kind of turf war involving drugs.
"Next thing, a car pulled up, and two huge guys got out, and one of them pulled a gun out from inside his jacket and told one of the groups that if they continued selling drugs on this estate, he’d put them all six feet under."
