The schoolboy drug dealer: Shocking figures reveal British 12-year-old arrested for peddling class A highs Youngster was detained by police in Huddersfield, Yorkshire 12,000 under 16's arrested for drugs offences across the country Youngsters experimenting with cannabis, ecstasy, speed and even heroin A 12-year-old child was the youngest person arrested for drug dealing, new figures have revealed. The youngster, who was detained by police in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, was one of 209 children aged under 18 have been arrested for drug offences in the area in the last three years. A Freedom of Information request shows in 2010, 78 under 18s were arrested in Kirklees - a total of 30 were for Class A drug offences. Arrests: A 12-year-old child was the youngest person arrested for drug dealing The following year it dropped slightly to 71 with just seven for Class A drugs and by 2012 it had fallen to 60 with just eight offences involving Class A drugs. In 2012, police revealed 12,000 under 16's had been arrested for drugs offences across the country. The figures reveal youngsters are experimenting with cannabis, ecstasy, speed, cocaine and even heroin. The damning evidence was obtained by the Daily Mail through Freedom of Information Act requests to police forces. A total of 40 of the 43 forces in England and Wales responded, revealing 12,589 drug-related arrests of under-16s in the past three years. Among them were six ten-year-olds arrested for possession. The Metropolitan Police, the biggest force, said 3,592 under-16s were arrested for drugs offences. Avon and Somerset, Humberside, Essex, West Mercia, West Midlands and the Met each held a ten-year-old for possession. Offences: In 2012, police revealed 12,000 under 16's had been arrested for drugs offences across the country The Government puts drugs in categories, or classes, which affect the punishment criminals will get for using or selling them. The penalties depend on the drug and the amount. Police will also look at whether a person is just using the banned substance or is selling it on. Penalties range from a caution to an unlimited fine and life in prison. Class A drugs are crack cocaine, cocaine, ecstasy (MDMA), heroin, LSD, magic mushrooms, methadone, methamphetamine (crystal meth). The penalty for possessing any of these drugs is up to seven years in prison. Source: gov.uk Today, it was also revealed that almost a thousand plants are seized by policein Greater Manchester every week. Officers seized a staggering 51,000 cannabis plants last year, according to the Home Office, with one plant confiscated on average every ten minutes. In Yorkshire Police force's area, the latest request shows there were four 13-year-olds arrested for drug offences from the Valleys area, two from Dewsbury and Batley and one from Huddersfield South in the last three years. Det Chief Insp Paul Jeffrey from Kirklees CID, said: 'We have put in a number of positive initiatives to educate children and young people about the dangers of drugs and the harm they can have on our communities. It is clear this message is having the desired impact with these positive figures. I make no apology that our target and top priority remains those people who peddle in this miserable trade by either selling drugs or producing them (or both). Harry Shapiro, from charity DrugScope, said: 'It is clearly very concerning when very young children are caught in up drug dealing. Fortunately, they represent only a very small minority of those involved in the drugs trade and overall, the figures for young people using drugs have been falling. Nevertheless, there are numbers of young people who are getting into difficulties with the new drugs that have appeared on the scene recently (sometimes called legal highs), and it is most important that services caring for these young people are adequately funded.