Three drug dealers have been jailed for a total of more than nine years following work by officers in Ashford.
Paul Bristow, 50, and Andrew Brown, 28, were stopped by Kent Police officers in Sussex in June 2021 and class A drugs were found in their possession.
Further searches of properties near Ashford led to the arrest of Paul Watson, 52, and all three were charged with drugs offences.
At Canterbury Crown Court on 15 October:
• Paul Bristow, from Ashford, was jailed for three years and seven months after admitting conspiring to supply heroin and crack cocaine.
• Andrew Brown, from Cranbrook, was jailed for three years and four months after admitting conspiring to supply heroin and crack cocaine.
• Paul Watson, also from Ashford received a two-year, four-month sentence after admitting possession with intent to supply heroin.
Officers in an unmarked car followed a Subaru Outback into Sussex on 10 June this year, after reports linking it to suspicious activity in Kent and Sussex.
The Subaru was stopped in Sea Road, Winchelsea and Bristow was seen to get out and throw a ball-shaped object over a nearby hedge.
The ball was retrieved by officers and found to contain around 100 wraps of cocaine and heroin. A phone was found on the floor next to the vehicle and Paul Bristow had £450 in cash in his pocket.
Officers then searched a property in Chilmington, where more heroin and a further phone were found in the possession of Paul Watson. Messages from the phones showed they had been used to sell drugs.
Detective Sergeant Jay Robinson, of Kent Police’s Chief Constable’s Crime Squad, said: ‘Class A drugs, like those being sold by these men, impact the lives of vulnerable people in Kent and Sussex and almost inevitably lead to further crime and anti-social behaviour.
‘The speed and quality of this investigation gave these offenders no choice but to plead guilty and I am pleased they have all now been removed from our streets.’