'I was a prisoner in my home': Drug gangs 'cuckooing' hundreds of homes a week
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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 elderly or disabled individuals, 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. However, figures shared exclusively with the BBC show 1,539 incidents of cuckooing were reported to police in London between May 2025 and April 2026. Of those, 1,275 of the victims were male.
The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said "horrific things" have happened to victims, who were often trapped in their own homes.
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