UK charity St Giles Trust has warned that young women are increasingly being recruited into ‘county lines’ drug gangs with treatments like botulinum toxin to groom them.
In the West Midlands of England, teenage girls have reportedly been offered lip fillers and beauty products as an attempt to groom them into partaking in criminal activity. The St Giles Trust has raised concerns about county lines gangs exploiting young women, and the use of beauty treatments to lure girls and young women is of increasing concern among charity workers.
The charity suggests that young women are increasingly being targeted, as they are less likely to be scrutinised by the police compared to their male counterparts. Similarly, young mothers have been manipulated into carrying guns and drugs in their prams to avoid detection. Various charities warn that women and girls continue to fall under the radar, and remain the ‘invisible’ victims.
Jade Hibbert, Midlands regional development manager at St Giles Trust, commented, “We have seen a massive shift across the Midlands of more and more female children being exploited. What they’re being manipulated with is botulinum toxin, fake eyelashes and fillers. It used to be designer handbags or clothes, but what we’re seeing is more perpetrators paying for treatments.”
The Aesthetics Journal reached out to the West Midlands Police for comment, but did not receive a response.
