GANGSTERS are being hunted after at least 16 deaths from killer drugs.

       More than 50 people have overdosed in days after greedy dealers laced heroin with a cheap synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful.

       1

       More than 50 people have overdosed in days after greedy dealers laced heroin with a cheap synthetic opioid Credit: Alamy

       Sources say around 12 of the 16 deaths — all in England — were in South London.

       A County Lines gang operating from the area is suspected of being responsible for the cases.

       Five men collapsed from heroin overdoses on Thursday night in Welwyn Garden City, Herts, and were taken to hospital.

       A major nationwide investigation by police and the National Crime Agency is under way and it is believed that some arrests have already been made.

       Three people also died from overdoses in a single county, which The Sun is not identifying at the request of police.

       Toxicology tests on victims are taking place to establish links.

       Most read in The Sun

       OH BABY! Kylie Jenner is 'pregnant and expecting her second child with Travis Scott'

       Latest

       'CODE RED' Theme park 'evacuated' after 'fight over ride' as families flee in terror

       LIGHT UP Predictions for next week’s green-amber list shuffle, according to travel experts

       COVID CAPITAL Holiday town tops Covid hotspot list as the areas with highest rates revealed

       LAUR & ORDER Lauren Goodger seen for the first time since giving birth to first baby Larose

       SEAN'S FIGHT Sean Lock died from lung cancer after diagnosis years ago, Bill Bailey reveals

       A source said: “The working theory is that all the overdoses were caused by a bad batch of heroin laced with something like fentanyl. It is believed a County Lines network based in London. has been distributing the drug around the country.

       “The dealers know full well they are selling bad s***, it’s tantamount to murder.”

       Fentanyl is around 50 times more potent than heroin.

       Public Health England has warned of a “sharp rise in overdoses” in London, the South East, South West and East.

       Inside Blackpool's drug death epidemic, as residents tell the Sun of users burning heroin and sniffing coke on streets near schools