PARENTS are being warned to keep an eye out for signs their child could be involved in drug running.

Inspector Pete Sparrow gave the advice during a meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board last Thursday (March 14) in Alderbury village hall.

He touched upon Wiltshire Police’s campaign last week to tackle knife crime, Operation Sceptre, which was part of a national week of action and awareness, as well as county line drugs.

Inspector Sparrow said: “County line drug running is touching on all communities and we have had a big surge of activity in Salisbury over the last year or two and we can see that some of those activities will start to filter out into the smaller communities.

“We have certainly seen it in Tidworth and Ludgershall, and I am keen to make sure we don’t start seeing it down in this area.

“Signs that you need to be looking out for with your children and grandchildren out in this area are when they suddenly have wealth.

“If they have got new phones that are given to them that you haven’t helped them get, coming into buying new clothes, new trainers.

He added: “Ask the questions, ‘how are you getting this money to afford the lifestyle that we are not necessarily giving you?’.

“Because if they aren’t getting it from you and they are not earning it they are getting it from somewhere, and if you don’t deal with it you have a problem.

“You need to tackle this early, without trying to point fingers, there are other parts of the county that haven’t grasped this and they have some serious violent issues with knife crime as a result.

“I’m urging you please deal with what you see. I’m more than happy to advise and help you.”