Cocaine, cannabis, nitrous oxide and prescription pills were offered for sale in mini-marts on UK High Streets, a BBC undercover investigation has found.
Undercover researchers secretly filmed in shops across four neighbouring West Midlands towns after a law enforcement whistleblower warned that drug gangs had taken control of a 300m stretch of High Street in the Black Country. One source described the street as “lawless.”
In Cradley Heath, a man behind the counter at a shop called Cradley Market told a researcher “I’ve got weed, coke, everything.” The researcher bought 3.5g of cannabis for £30 from a man who gave his name as Akwa. When asked about cocaine, Akwa phoned a contact; a gram was delivered a few hours later and sold for £95. Akwa also showed images of prescription drugs on his phone and invited the researcher to take photos. When later confronted on camera, he denied wrongdoing and asked the BBC team to leave. Sandwell Council said it is working with police to tackle illegal activity.
Across the neighbouring borough of Dudley, Trading Standards lead Kuldeep Maan told the BBC organised crime had taken hold of some High Streets. He said the sale of illegal drugs, counterfeit cigarettes and illegal vapes was the worst he had seen in 20 years. Maan said he had closed 39 shops for selling illegal cigarettes in 12 months and repeatedly found cannabis, cocaine, nitrous oxide and fake or foreign prescription drugs during raids.
Undercover visits to Lye and Brierley Hill resulted in offers of cannabis, cannabis vapes and nitrous oxide. In one Brierley Hill shop, a worker directed the team to a flat above the premises, where they twice bought cannabis from occupants. The BBC withdrew plans to confront the sellers in the flat for safety reasons after two large uncollared dogs appeared. The flat and shop share a landlord who said he was “shocked,” denied prior knowledge and had notified police.
Nitrous oxide, a class C drug commonly called laughing gas, was readily available in Dudley town centre. At Dawood Grocery, a shopkeeper asked how many bottles the researcher wanted, handed over balloons, and instructed them to wait outside. Minutes later a hooded man took £25 in cash and handed over a canister; the team made two purchases in this way. Dudley Trading Standards is investigating reports of laughing gas being sold to children. Dawood Grocery denied the BBC’s allegations. A local business owner told the BBC they regularly witnessed people inhaling laughing gas bought from the shop.
The BBC also analysed dozens of local news reports as part of a wider probe and found that drugs including crystal meth and heroin had been discovered in more than 70 shops and linked premises nationwide, in places from Bideford to Great Yarmouth to Belfast.
Local business owners described intimidation and violence. Grocery owner Marius Boros said customers were “scared to come here” because of “a lot of fights, knives, guns.” Hairdresser Diane Shawe said her shop windows had been smashed four times and CCTV showed hooded men throwing bricks at replacement glass in the early hours. After one attack, two men visited her shop and tried to intimidate her, saying they wanted the premises for a barber business; one asked if she was “ready to sell now.”
The BBC’s team observed “spotters” outside mini-marts and was followed and photographed by mini-mart workers on Dudley High Street. Trading Standards officers told the BBC it can be difficult to secure long-term closures: anti-social behaviour legislation allows shops to be closed for three months but requires statements from businesses and the public, and criminals often reopen nearby premises. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute wants closure orders extended to 12 months with the option of permanent closures for persistent offenders, its chief executive John Herriman said.
Dudley Council said it had launched Operation Clearance in August 2024 to rid the borough of businesses run by organised crime and claimed to have closed 42 shops to date. West Midlands Police said it would work with partners to act on complaints about illegal drug sales, anti-social behaviour and crime. The Home Office said the government is working with police, the National Crime Agency and Trading Standards to “take the strongest possible action against these criminal businesses.”
Liam Byrne, chair of the Business and Trade Committee, who was shown the drugs found by the BBC, called for urgent government action. “We can’t restore our High Streets unless we take out the cancer of organised crime,” he said, calling for new resources, tougher laws and a zero-tolerance approach to organised crime operating openly on High Streets.
Additional reporting by Phill Edwards
