RUTHLESS gangs using vulnerable teenagers as drug runners must be tackled, the outgoing chairman of a safeguarding group has warned.

Former police chief Graham Bartlett said youngsters are being used to handle drugs for serious organised crime gangs in the city - following on from sexual exploitation and radicalisation as major threats affecting them.

He said: “These young people who are vulnerable and tend to have a background of certain behaviour will be exploited and we have to find ways to stop them being exploited in all sorts of areas including drug running.

“We have changed the previous view of some young boys and girls involved in criminal activity, we now have better understanding, looking at the root cause of their behaviour and the possible threat of exploitation.

“We have had sexual exploitation and risks around radicalisation, exploitation of criminal gangs is the newest version of it.”

The Argus revealed last year that 20 teenagers had been arrested by Sussex Police for possession with intent to supply since 2012 with another 34 youngsters picked up for dealing class B drugs.

Former undercover officer Neil Woods warned city youngsters were being bullied and intimidated in increasing numbers into working for violent inner-city crime gangs.

Mr Bartlett, the former Brighton and Hove police city commander said his chairmanship of the city’s safeguarding children’s board had seen a move away from viewing radicalisation as the main criminal issue to safeguarding victims who were being targeted to help gangs sell drugs.

During his four year stint, the city has faced an unprecedented radicalisation threat with a handful of teenagers leaving to fight in Syria with at least three known to have been killed.

A serious case review into radicalisation, leaks from which were reported to show up to 28 youngsters in the city at risk of becoming potential jihadists, was launched in 2014 and is expected to be published before Mr Bartlett’s successor takes up the role at the end of the summer.

Mr Bartlett said the threat could still remain despite the imminent fall of ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

He added: “It is hard to say that the threat has diminished, we simply do not know.”

Mr Bartlett, who is leaving his role in the safeguarding children’s board, will remain as the chairman of adult safeguarding boards in the city and East Sussex. He said the time was right to stand down from his role about children after four years.

He said: “It is an independent role and my personal view after such a long period of time is how independent can you seem to be, you become part of the furniture almost.

“I have had a really good four years, we have reshaped the board and we are one of the few boards in the country to receive a good rating from Ofsted.”

He said he was most proud of the work tackling the sexual exploitation of boys and girls and in creating a “one-stop shop” to report safeguarding concerns at the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub.

After stepping down this summer, Mr Bartlett said he would continue his safeguarding work in a number of schools as well as continuing to pursue his writing career.

Death Comes Knocking, his first non-fiction book co-written with Peter James about Brighton’s highest-profile cases was released last year.

He said he hoped to have a second non-fiction book published focusing as well as a first foray into crime fiction.

He said: “The novel as you would expect is a crime procedural. Working with Peter James, he is the best teacher money could buy and it does not cost me a penny.”