London drug dealer found to be operating in Folkestone is jailed
Published: 12:21, 29 January 2020
Updated: 15:05, 29 January 2020
A county lines drug dealer has been locked away for three years after being found with more than 70 wraps of class A drugs and £3,000 cash.
Leon Taagi, 27, was found operating in the home of a Folkestone man following a police raid last month.
Officers from Folkestone's Community Policing and Victim Based Crime teams entered the flat in Marine Terrace on the morning of December 17 and found 29 wraps of crack cocaine and 43 wraps of heroin on a coffee table.
The drugs had a street value of up to £580 and £860 respectively.
One of two phones that was lying next to the drugs was repeatedly ringing while police were at the address.
Taagi, of Willesden, north-west London, had £3,000 in the pockets of his jogging bottoms and a train ticket from London dated two days earlier.
He was arrested and later charged with possession of class A drugs with intent to supply and possession of criminal property.
He gave no comment in interview but has since admitted the charges.
He appeared at Canterbury Crown Court on Tuesday and was jailed for a total of three years.
DC Natasha Russell said: "We will not tolerate drug dealers coming into the county and inflicting misery on vulnerable people in our communities.
"We are pleased this sentence will keep Taagi off our streets for a considerable amount of time."
According to the National Crime Agency, county lines is a term used when drug gangs from big cities expand their operations to smaller towns, often using violence to drive out local dealers and exploiting children and vulnerable people to sell drugs.
These dealers will use dedicated mobile phone lines, known as 'deal lines', to take orders from drug users.
Heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine are the most common drugs being supplied and ordered.
In most instances, the users or customers will live in a different area to where the dealers and networks are based, so drug runners are needed to transport the drugs and collect payment.
Two other men arrested on the same day as Taagi have both been released under investigation, pending further enquiries.
Read more: All the latest news from Folkestone
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Sam Williams