Hundreds, if not thousands, of people’s homes are being taken over by criminals every week in the UK, usually to store and deal drugs, police chiefs have told the BBC.
Perpetrators of so-called cuckooing often target vulnerable people, including the elderly or disabled, by forcing themselves into homes to carry out illegal acts. In some cases drug users are exploited by gangs who move in and refuse to leave.
Cuckooing is not yet a specific criminal offence so there is limited data on how widespread it is.
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