Dramatic moment drug dealer from West Midlands is arrested - knife, drugs, and £9k in cash seized in raids

The British Transport Police (BTP) says an organised crime gang has been jailed for a total of more than nine years following a County Lines Taskforce investigation.

Drug dealer Andrew Wallance, aged 22, of Bridget Street, Rugby, pleaded guilty to Assault of an Emergency Worker, Offering to Supply Crack Cocaine, Offering to Supply Heroin, Possession with Intent to Supply Class A drugs (Crack Cocaine) and Possession with intent To Supply Class A drugs (Heroin). He was sentenced to three years and five months on January 28 at Warwick Crown Court.

Isaiah Taitt and Dequarme Lennox were also jailed on November 12 last year at Warwick Crown Court for their involvement in running the drugs line.

Taitt, aged 24, of Bridge Close, West London, pleaded guilty to Offering to Supply Crack Cocaine and Offering to Supply Heroin, and was jailed for two years and nine months.

Lennox, aged 22, of Burford, Telford, was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to Offering to Supply Crack Cocaine and Offering to Supply Heroin.

The court heard how on January 20 last year, intelligence led BTP’s County Lines Taskforce to an address in Northamptonshire which was being used as a trap house. After forcing entry to the property, officers located Wallance who had internally secreted a package suspected to contain Class A drugs.

He was arrested and while in custody became aggressive when officers advised him he would need to go to hospital, kicking one of them and knocking him off balance. Subsequently he had to be carried into a police van to hospital where the package was later recovered and confirmed to be crack cocaine and heroin.

Wallance was bailed while the Taskforce launched an investigation into the operation of the drugs line, which upon analysis revealed another two people were involved. Multiple drug trafficking messages were recovered from Wallance’s phone downloads between the three men proving they were working together to supply Class A drugs.

Officers from the Taskforce executed warrants at addresses in London, Rugby, and Telford in the early hours of March 12. Wallance, Taitt and Lennox were arrested and the drugs line phone, a large knife disguised as a bike pump, drugs, and £9k in cash were seized in the raids. After nearly 24 hours in custody, all three were charged with a total of 10 offences.

Matt Davies, BTP Detective Inspector, said: “This is a hugely significant result in our crackdown on County Lines - three men who operated a once thriving drugs line are now behind bars and the illegal drugs they peddled have been taken off the streets along with a potentially lethal weapon.

“This could not have been achieved without the efforts of colleagues at the Metropolitan Police as well as Warwickshire, West Mercia and Northamptonshire Police.

“Working together means we combine our individual resources to hunt down those who profit from the sale of drugs and exploit others - make no mistake, if you’re using the network to deal drugs we’ll be catching up with you very soon.”