Cocaine, cannabis, laughing gas and prescription pills are being offered for sale in mini-marts on UK High Streets, a BBC investigation can reveal.
They were readily offered to our undercover researchers who secretly filmed in shops across four neighbouring West Midlands towns.
One street we visited was described as "lawless" by an anonymous law enforcement source.
Just a few miles away, in a town where we found illegal drugs being sold in shops, legitimate businesses told us they had been intimidated by gangs – and witnessed knife and gun violence.
Across the country, shopfronts are being exploited by organised criminal gangs that have gained a foothold pushing illegal drugs, say both the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI).
We analysed dozens of recent local news reports as part of our ongoing investigation into criminal activity on UK High Streets. From Bideford in Devon, to Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, to Belfast in Northern Ireland – we found that drugs, including crystal meth and heroin, had been found in more than 70 shops and linked premises.
Responding to our findings in the West Midlands and more widely, a senior Labour MP is now calling on the government to act urgently. "We can't restore our High Streets unless we take out the cancer of organised crime," says Liam Byrne, chair of the Business and Trade Committee.
The government is working with police, the NCA and Trading Standards to "take the strongest possible action against these criminal businesses", a spokesperson for the Home Office said. West Midlands Police said it would always work with partners "to act on complaints about illegal drugs sales, anti-social behaviour, and crime and disorder".
"I've got weed, coke, everything. Whatever you want, I can sort you out," said a man behind the counter at a mini-mart in Cradley Heath.
We had come to the Black Country town as part of our year-long investigation. A law enforcement whistleblower had told us that drug gangs were out of control along its 300m stretch of High Street.
When asked, it took just seconds for the man behind the counter of the shop – called Cradley Market – to supply our researcher with 3.5g of cannabis for £30.
Handing money over to criminals is not something we do lightly – but in this instance we decided there was a public interest in carrying out the test purchases.
Our researcher was able to buy cannabis from the shop on two separate visits.
Past shelves of fizzy drinks, sweets and nappies, he was taken to the back of the shop and handed a small bag of cannabis from a rucksack by the man, who said his name was Akwa.
When our researcher asked if he could buy cocaine, Akwa immediately made a call to get some. A couple of hours later, a gram of cocaine was delivered to the shop which Akwa sold for £95.
While we were in the shop, Akwa showed us a selection of pictures of prescription drugs on his phone for sale – inviting our researcher to take photos in case he knew anyone who might be interested.
The offer included pregabalin, a prescription drug used to treat anxiety, nerve pain and epilepsy. Its misuse has been linked to a sharp increase in deaths.
Akwa denied any wrongdoing when we later confronted him. When asked about selling drugs, he said he did not know what we were talking about, before asking us to leave.
We put our findings to the local authority. A spokesperson said Sandwell Council was working with police to tackle illegal activity.
Less than three miles away, in the neighbouring borough of Dudley, organised crime gangs have taken hold of some of its High Streets, the Trading Standards lead there says.
The sale of illegal drugs, alongside counterfeit cigarettes and illegal vapes, is the worst it has been in 20 years, Kuldeep Maan told us.
During our research in the borough, we observed so-called "spotters" outside mini-marts – on the lookout, we were told, for potential law enforcement raids. Our team was also followed and photographed by mini-mart workers on Dudley High Street.
Maan says he shut down 39 shops for selling illegal cigarettes in Dudley in 12 months, but during raids he also repeatedly found cannabis, cocaine, nitrous oxide, and fake and foreign prescription drugs.
Visits to shops in two towns in the borough, Lye and Brierley Hill, filmed by our undercover researchers, resulted in offers of cannabis, cannabis vapes and nitrous oxide.
A class C drug commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous oxide can cause brain damage when inhaled. It is used legally in the catering industry and other sectors, but is illegal to possess or supply with the intent to inhale it for recreational use.
In Lye, four shops offered us illegal cigarettes and laughing gas. A 10-minute drive away in Brierley Hill we were twice offered cannabis at IK Convenience. A shop worker showed us illegal cannabis vapes costing £20 each.
The shop did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.
When we asked about cannabis in another Brierley Hill shop, called Best Choice, the man behind the counter directed us to a flat above where we were twice able to buy the drug, from a man and woman.
The flat and the shop have the same landlord, we discovered. He told us he was "shocked" to hear from the BBC, had "no prior knowledge of any alleged sale of cannabis" and had notified the police.
The BBC was poised to confront the cannabis sellers in the flat but withdrew for safety reasons when two large pitbull-type dogs without collars or leads appeared.
We approached the tenants for comment and were contacted by someone on their behalf, who denied the allegations.
Maan told us he is investigating increasing numbers of reports of laughing gas being sold to children, across the borough of Dudley.
We found nitrous oxide readily available in the heart of Dudley town centre.
Inside Dawood Grocery store, the shopkeeper asked our undercover researcher how many bottles of gas he wanted, before handing over a plastic bag with some balloons in and being told to wait outside on a nearby street corner. Balloons are filled with the gas, which is then inhaled.
A few minutes later, a hooded man arrived, took our £25 in cash and handed over a nitrous oxide canister without saying a word. We were twice able to buy the gas in this way from the shop.
Another local business owner, who did not want to be named, told us they regularly witnessed people inhaling laughing gas, having bought it from Dawood.
Dawood Grocery denies all the allegations made by the BBC.
"People are scared to come here," says Romanian national Marius Boros, who moved to the UK 13 years ago and now runs a grocery shop on Dudley High Street.
There are "a lot of fights, knives, guns" outside, he says.
Mini-marts selling cut-price, illegal goods – including drugs – are destroying his business, says Boros. "I work really hard, everything I had, I invested here… I'm very close to losing everything."
Meanwhile, hair salon owner Diane Shawe believes local criminals are trying to push her out. Her shop windows have been smashed four times, she says, each time in the middle of the night.
CCTV footage showed how men in hoodies threw bricks at her shop windows in the early hours, shortly after the glass had been replaced.
"They want the shop. They're going to make it expensive for me until they get their own way," says Shawe, whose customers include people with cancer and alopecia
After one of the attacks, she explains, two men called into the shop and tried to intimidate her, saying they wanted the premises to set up a barber shop.
"One guy asked me, am I ready to sell now?"
Dudley Council says it has been working with local police, landlords and businesses "to rid the borough of businesses run by organised crime" through its Operation Clearance campaign, launched in August 2024.
"The council has delivered some of the strongest enforcement outcomes in the country and, to date, 42 shops have been successfully
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