County line drug dealers jailed after arrests in Canterbury

Two drug dealers have been jailed after they were arrested in Canterbury by Kent Police’s County Lines and Gangs Team.

L>R Wayne Kassim and Mark Duce 

Wayne Kassim and Mark Duce were behind a phone line which advertised drugs to users under the name ‘DelBoy’. Detectives began investigating following a medical incident involving one drug user, who was later found to have bought drugs from the ‘DelBoy’ line.

A phone number was found to have been used to advertise heroin and cocaine in Canterbury, with a VW Beetle and a Vauxhall Mokka owned by Duce believed to be linked to the dealing. Officers were able to link the times at which the drugs were being bought and sold to the movement of the two vehicles between south London, Maidstone, Canterbury and Thanet.

On 8 February 2024, the Vauxhall Mokka was stopped in Kingsmead Road, Canterbury and Kassim and Duce were both arrested. The phone used to advertise the drugs was found on Kassim and a ball of heroin was discovered discarded nearby.

The heroin found upon arrest.

Duce later admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine and Kassim was convicted of the same charges, as well as possession of heroin with intent to supply, following a trial.

Duce, 51, from Littlebourne, was jailed for two and a half years at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday 12 July and Kassim, 39, from Maidstone, was given a seven-year sentence.

Detective Constable Martin Aird, of the County Lines and Gangs Team, said:

‘Class A drugs of this kind put the lives of users at risk and lead to knock-on crime and violence in the communities where they are sold.

‘We will be relentless in tracking down those involved in the trade, bringing them before the courts and taking them off the streets of Kent.’