Three drug dealers have been given jail terms for running a county line between London, Dover and Folkestone.
An investigation by Kent Police’s County Lines and Gangs Team found crack cocaine and heroin were being brought into Kent by a network using the pseudonyms George, Jack and Billy.
Enquiries which stemmed from a quantity of the two drugs being dropped at a petrol station led to a warrant at a caravan park in Hythe.
Arrests
Daniel Lewington and William Bridge were arrested at the scene and £2,000 in cash, scales, various phones and quantities of heroin and crack cocaine were seized.
Kaseem Ibrahim, who was running drugs for the group, was arrested in Folkestone the same day and all three were later charged with being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine.
At Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday 6 October 2022, Lewington was given a three-year, nine-month sentence, Bridge received two years, eight months and Ibrahim two years and four months.
Investigation
The investigation began after drugs were dropped at a petrol station near Maidstone in April 2020. Examination of CCTV led to them being linked to a car, which had been hired by Lewington.
He was arrested and his home in Bexleyheath, south-east London, was searched, with two phones showing messages used to arrange drug deals with users in Dover.
Lewington was bailed while enquiries continued and the investigation into his activities led to officers securing CCTV of him topping up another phone, which was later found to have been used in drug dealing.
Officers also linked Lewington’s network to a Range Rover Evoque which was tracked making journeys to the Hythe area in the summer of 2020.
Meanwhile, Kaseem Ibrahim, formerly of Dover, was arrested in Hythe in September that year after patrol officers in the town stopped a car he was travelling in and found him in possession of drugs and cash.
Warrants
Further investigation led to him being linked to Lewington’s county line and warrants carried out in Hythe, Greenwich and Maidstone in October 2020 saw Lewington, Ibrahim and Bridge, formerly of Charlton, all arrested and further drugs, cash and phones seized.
Detective Constable Raj Dusanjh, of the County Lines and Gangs Team, said: ‘Our officers are out every day gathering information on those who try to bring drugs into Kent.
‘This investigation saw this network quickly and carefully identified and brought to justice. The sentences handed down show the extent of criminality involved.’