About 120 "county lines" gangs are currently operating from Merseyside with children as young as 10 groomed to join them, police said today.
The cross-country mobs trade on the misery of addicts, peddling often heroin and crack cocaine, with crack having seen an increase in recent months.
Also an increasing factor is a powerful opiate called fentanyl, 100 times stronger that street heroin, which is feared could be an increasing factor in drug-related deaths.
Today, police chiefs revealed some Merseyside gangs could be making £2,000-£5,000 every day in their evil line of work.
Outside of London, this county's drug gangs are thought to be the second biggest abusers of children, grooming those not yet at primary school age.
The crime groups prey on children by making them increasingly vulnerable, often buying them gifts of clothes, food and bikes, and making them feel in debt to them, but also promoting the idea of being part of a gang, or "family."
Once groomed, the children are sent away to other parts of the UK to sell drugs, often hundreds of miles away from home.
They can go missing from homes and schools for weeks at a time.
It comes as city leaders today unveiled fire engines that will drive around the city, bearing harrowing messages of victims caught up in County Lines criminality.
Emblazoned on appliances in Kensington and Old Swan, they reveal the true extent of desperation of children unwittingly groomed into a life of drug-fuelled crime.
One message, from a 17-year-old boy, says: "There were needles all over. You couldn’t see the floor. I had to sleep there.”
Another, said by a 15-year-old boy, reads: "I didn’t know where I was. I had to search for it on Google maps to see how far I was from home."
And a third, demonstrated how the signs of a youngster getting involved in County Lines can be hard to read.
That says: "New phone. New bike. New mates. New clothes. New habits. New attitude. The signs of grooming can be hard to read."
The County Lines phenomenon sees big city criminals take over markets miles from home, with Merseyside gangs often focusing on regions where they believe they can start to dominate the drugs scene.
In recent years, areas which have fallen victim to Liverpool crooks are Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Shropshire and parts of North Wales.
A noticeable rise in high-profile court cases in Devon and Cornwall have also highlighted how Merseyside gangs have also tried to plunder illegal pickings on England's south coast.
The term "cuckooing" is becoming well known, the practice of hardened dealers forcing their way inside the home of a vulnerable addict, on a far-away patch, to establish a control of drugs supply in smaller towns where more powerful criminals might not yet be present.
At these newly-acquired addresses, drugs are stored, and "runners" who ferry the product around to suppliers, can live.
Trains and buses are used by the gangs, instructing children to keep a low profile while using public transport, as they are too young to drive.
As part of a campaign called "Eyes Open", run by Merseyside’s Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP), the public are being asked to watch out for the tell-tale signs of child grooming linked to County Lines dealing.
Gary Oakford, a prevention directorate for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, said: "It’s crucial that our communities understand the destruction of young lives and families by criminal gangs as they groom kids to sell their drugs, locally and far from home.
"We need people to recognise the signs and to report it.
"We will gladly use our appliances to share these vital messages. It is an integral part of our work to keep communities safe, and free from threat and harm.”
Superintendent Mark Wiggins, from Merseyside Police, said: "During the coronavirus lockdown, we have not seen evidence that drug gangs have stopped grooming kids on Merseyside.
"..it’s time we saw drug gangs for the abusers they are.
"Drug gangs are grooming kids in Merseyside every day.
Can you help us keep Merseyside covered?
"Grown men, and sometimes women, are grooming vulnerable kids who come from all sorts of backgrounds.
"They are coercing them to sell drugs, to be on the end of a phone line 24 hours a day to deliver drug orders, to store firearms and weapons, and to invade vulnerable people’s homes often hundreds of miles away from their homes to help the gangs make money.
"This has to stop.”
Posters and billboards are up around Merseyside saying: “Know what to look for. Know who to help."
Jane Kennedy, Merseyside Police Crime Commissioner, said: "All too often we do not notice or recognise the warning signs when a young person is being groomed for exploitation and even when we are worried we don’t know what to do.
"We need the public’s help if we are to prevent young people falling prey to the criminal gangs and with the support of the fire support we can ensure even more people across our region know to keep their ‘Eyes Open’ to this kind of abuse.”
