A young boy, on the fringe of gang membership, was paid an early morning visit by the gangs unit as part of a new police crime initiative.

Croydon police Sergeant Darin Birmingham from Operation Aries, paid the 13-year-old boy and his mother a visit last Wednesday after she called, terrified that he was mixing with the wrong people.

According to the mother her young son had begun stealing from her and staying out late on a estate in Brixton.

At 6.30am the officers were welcomed in the house by the mother.

They went upstairs into the youth’s room and he awoke to the sight of three burly policemen standing over him.

He was spoken to briefly before being arrested for the theft of a Playstation 3 from his mother.

His mother said: “I don’t know what to do with him, I really need some help.

"His father lives close by, but he just doesn’t seem to care. I have tried everything, but I need the police to try and drill some sense into him.”

Sergeant Birmingham believed because of the boys age he was probably being used as a runner for a gang on a Brixton estate.

He said: “What these gangs tend to do is pick up young lads and use them for selling their drugs.

"They will give a boy like this a phone, a bike and some crack and say ‘when I call you, you go where I say’ they will then give him a cut and he will be able to buy the new trainers he can’t afford or the phone he wants.

“Later once he has made, say £500, he will buy his own crack and sell it himself, then the cycle goes on.

”Unfortunately drugs are not a so-called quiet crime as some like to think. They destroy lives, but more importantly they destroy families.”

If you are worried about your son being in a gang or would like the Operation Aries team to pay your son or daughter a visit contact Croydon Police on 0300 123 1212 Are gangs out of control? Have your say at croydonguardian.co.uk

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