A BBC investigation has uncovered hundreds of homes taken over by drug gangs, with many tenants forced to live as prisoners.

The actual number of properties identified as ‘cuckoo’ cases where drugs are stored and sold, may even run into thousands.

Targeted

Vulnerable people, including the elderly and disabled, are targeted for what is now a crime under new legislation.

The gangs send someone in to occupy the home of a person, who is often a drug user, and then refuse to leave.

The BBC obtained figures showing 1,539 incidents of cuckooing were reported to police in London between May 2025 and April 2026.

It forms part of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, but is not yet being enforced.

Shut down

Closure orders are sometimes being used to shut down occupation of a property by intruders, with the legitimate tenant allowed to stay.

A Home Office spokesperson said the evidence uncovered by the BBC News was “appalling”.

“We will do everything in our power to protect communities from the vile crime of cuckooing, including investing more than £34million this year in the County Lines Programme to target drug dealing gangs and organised crime groups,” they said.

Extreme squalor

The BBC found cases of extreme squalor in some properties, where people lived in fear of violent reprisals from members of drug gangs.

In one case reported, a woman called Jackie (pictured) was forced to stay in her bedroom after her flat was taken over by a drug gang.

Read the full BBC investigation report here