NEW figures show a child as young as nine was caught with cannabis at school while 14 under 16s intended to supply, or were supplying, heroin in the past four years.

The Telegraph & Argus analysed data from two Freedom of Information (FOI) Act requests sent to West Yorkshire Police about drugs and youngsters and made some shocking discoveries.

One set of data was for drug supply among under 16-year-olds and the other related to drug crimes recorded at schools.

Both show the recorded crimes from 2018 up until part of 2022 – February 28 for the drugs in schools data and April 30 for the drug supply data.

The amount of under 16s being caught dealing drugs has risen by 67 per cent between 2018 and 2021.

There were 137 recorded crimes in total up until April 30 this year – from 118 suspects - and the youngest drug dealer for each of the years was 13.

Just over 10 per cent of those were for dealing heroin (12 possession with intent to supply and two supply).

The youngest teenager caught attempting to deal, or actually dealing heroin was a 13-year-old.

They were caught in 2019 supplying the Class A drug, as well as also dealing crack and possessing that same narcotic with intent to supply it.

There were nine teenagers caught dealing or trying to deal crack cocaine, 43 for cannabis, 11 for cocaine, three for MDMA, and one each for Ketamine, Amphetamine and Synthetic Cannaboid Receptor Agonists.

The drug crimes at schools were recorded by the police with the location qualifier as “school” and could have occurred within or in the exterior of the premises and may have happened outside school hours.

There have been 225 such crimes recorded from 2018 to February 28 this year and the figures have dropped by 74 per cent between that first year and the last complete year, 2021.

But schools were shut in 2020 when the country was plunged into a national lockdown on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic, with 2021 also hit by various restrictions.

The figures dropped to their lowest in those years (39 recorded crimes for each), with a decrease of 48 per cent from 2019 to 2020.

Shockingly a nine-year-old schoolgirl was caught with cannabis in 2018, while three 12-year-olds (two of whom were recorded as students) were found to be dealing the substance – one in 2018 and two in 2019.

There were two 12-year-olds caught with cocaine on them in 2018 and 2020 respectively.

West Yorkshire Police said: “Details are of the offender/suspect, however this cannot be interpreted as the individual the drugs were seized from.”

There was one instance at a school where a pupil of 11 was caught alongside an 18-year-old, 31-year-old and 38-year-old dealing cannabis.

T/Superintendent Alan Travis revealed the force is aware criminals try exploit children and they have a number of methods they use to try tackle this problem.

He said: “The use and supply of drugs can have a devastating impact on the young person involved and the wider community and our focus is on educating and diverting people away from this kind of criminality.

“We work with Liaison and Diversion services and St Giles Trust to support young people who are involved in drugs supply to prevent them from doing so in the future.

“Our Safer Schools Officers also provide inputs into high schools and some primary schools.

“As a police force, we do not want to unnecessarily criminalise people from a young age and will consider, where possible, out of court disposals including cautions and community resolutions.

“We know that criminals can seek to exploit children.

“We hold regular Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) meetings where individual cases are discussed, and measures put in place to ensure that that young person is supported and safeguarded.

“Over recent years we have also done a lot of work to raise awareness of the issues of county lines and child criminal exploitation and what people can do if they think someone is at risk.

“This has included focused inputs for foster carers and other professional colleagues that engage with young people to help them to spot the early signs.

“We have also run public awareness campaigns, both aimed at the young people themselves and at parents and guardians.”