11-year-old child used as a drugs courier in Carlisle

Detectives have spelled out the startling scale of the dangers linked to a frightening county underworld, believed to be made up of 54 known gangs.

Nineteen of these are currently classed as active - with others "disrupted" or lying low to avoid capture.

Drug deaths, physical abuse, rises in thefts and exploitation of the vulnerable are all being linked to groups, which are often centred on drugs being supplied from big urban areas.

Police have revealed the eye-opening way in which they operate, running drug delivery services in much the same way someone might order takeaway food.

And in probably the most shocking example of the dangers they can bring, detectives say an 11-year-old was used to courier wraps of heroin round the streets of Carlisle.

This was because an adult - part of the supply chain - was under "pressure to get orders out".

Detective Chief Superintendent Dean Holden - the man leading the county's detectives - spoke about the scale of the problem posed by big city drugs gangs.

The link between organised Manchester and Merseyside gangs and the trafficking of drugs into Cumbria has long been known.

But senior detectives say mobs from London and Birmingham are now aiming to get in on the act - each keen to take a slice of this part of the criminal underworld.

Det Chief Supt Holden urged the public to contact with any information that could help officers as they aimed to smash the organised gangs.

"Rather than just getting the local street dealers, we have to go beyond that," he said.

"We want to target the individuals pulling the strings."

The issue of gangs crossing county lines is a big problem across the country, hitting rural forces such as Cumbria.

Organised crime groups are defined as people working together to commit serious crime on a continuing basis.

Police revealed the type of tactics used as they target places such as Cumbria.

Moving into a different area, suppliers from big cities introduce a phone number to sell drugs such as crack and heroin directly at street level.

This phone line, say police, represents a supplier's "brand".

It does not change very often and is usually run from the supplier's home city.

Drug users ring the number to place orders and local street dealers are then dispatched to make deliveries.

The gangs often locate enforcers within the homes of the local street dealers to control the supply. This is known as cuckooing.

By operating this way the supplier extends their network - but keeps themselves distant from the supply.

Phone lines are unregistered and difficult to link to an individual, add police.

Det Chief Supt Holden said: "We do a lot of work around the organised crime groups.

"Some groups are classed as archived. This is because of their lace of intent or capability.

"Very often because of our disruption their capability has been diminished or intention diminished. They don't want to get caught."

He said there were about 620 organised crime groups across the north west, with Cumbria representing just a small percentage of this.

Det Supt Holden gave the example of the 11-year-old, along with a 17-year-old, who was missing from elsewhere in the country, who was used. She was found in Barrow.

Officers said cases of kidnap and rape had also been investigated that had links to crime groups.

He was speaking at a meeting of senior crimefighting figures.

This regular public accountability conference is held by Cumbria's crime commissioner, Peter McCall.

Mr McCall said: "It's pretty alarming to think that you've had an 11-year-old mixed up in this. How common is that?"

Det Chief Supt Holden said: "The 11-year-old is an isolated case as far as we are aware."

But he added: "We are getting more and more high level vulnerability cases."

The drugs market was said to be "extremely lucrative", with massive profits to be made.

Police chiefs pointed out how, over the last year, they had successfully disrupted 19 organised crime gangs.

Deputy Chief Constable Mark Webster offered a reassuring note, adding there was no evidence of guns being used in Cumbria to back up the criminal operations.