A THIRD of London drug dealers moving to Essex to sell illegal substances operated in Colchester, shock new figures have revealed.

A report released by City Hall says 43 people referred to their Rescue and Response programme, which aims to support young people involved in county lines, had links to Colchester.

The number puts the town tenth in the overall list in the country and the highest in Essex.

According to the statistics, 121 people with Essex links were referred which also included 27 with Clacton connections and 36 with Southend.

County lines refers to gangs forcing vulnerable individuals – including children as young as 11 – into trafficking drugs from large cities to rural areas.

The figures are likely to be higher as only 71 per cent of individuals in the Rescue and Response programme had a county name associated with them, and only 44 per cent a town.

London mayor Sadiq Khan, said: “We are supporting young people where we can, but we know we’re only scratching the surface of a major national issue that is driving violence in London and across the country.”

“The Government has finally admitted that its cuts to policing have gone too far – but it also needs to follow City Hall’s lead by being tough on the causes of crime.

“That means proper investment to help us prevent and support more young people being exploited and reversing the damaging cuts to local services, such as social services, which are at the frontline in the battle to tackle this issue.”

Some £500,000 of extra funding to tackle so-called county lines gangs has been allocated to tackle the problem from Essex County Council.

Council leader David Finch says county lines drugs gangs are “a real and present danger to communities up and down our county”.

Colchester Council public safety boss Mike Lilley said: “Two years ago we knew we had a problem and it would be interesting to see the figures of how many are operating now.

“Getting more police - which seems to be happening - is the key to everything.

“When there were all the cuts people thought they could come down from London and do whatever they liked.

“If we are in the same position in another two years we will be asking what we have done wrong because we think our partnership is strong now.”

County lines sees urban gangs from larger cities use mobile phones in a different area to sell drugs.

Last year 134 lines were said to be operating in Essex and 1,000 people were arrested.