Operation Jollity involved more than 100 Kent Police officers

by Paul Hooper

Drug dealers in Margate, Dover and Ashford – caught in a series of raids codenamed Operation Jollity - have been jailed for a total of more than 40 years.

They were nabbed in dawn raids last November following a three-month undercover operation by Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

Police seized crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis which was being sold on the streets in parts of the county.

More than 100 officers were involved in the operation – which also resulted in cleaning up not only drugs offences, but recovering stolen property.

Now judges at Canterbury Crown Court have handed out jail terms of up to five years to 20 people who admitted dealing in illegal drugs in the county.

Kent Police Chief Constable Ian Learmonth (pictured right) said after the raids: "We have successfully taken out a tier of the drugs supply network in east Kent.

"The action is a victory for law abiding residents who do not want to live with crime and anti-social behaviour associated with drugs.

Among those convicted were:

• Sevtap Taner, 40, of Blacomb Crescent, Margate, who was given a 16-month sentence suspended for two years. udge Adele Williams warned hershe faced "an increasingly bleak" future unless she tackled her drugs and alcohol problems. She admitted being involved in the supply of heroin.
• Graham Nettlingham, 41, of Trinity Square, Margate, was jailed for 16 months on three charges of dealing in heroin and crack cocaine.
• Raynadene Elijah, 36, of Northdown Road, Cliftonville, went to prison for 44 months after admitting similar charges.
• Leslie Harris, 51, of Cheriton High Street, Folkestone, received a four-and-a-half-year sentence for his guilty pleas to supplying cocaine.
• A four-year jail term was handed out to Justin Lait, of Castle Street, Dover, who admitted several dealing charges relating to crack cocaine and heroin.
• Simona Orackova, 26, of Ethelbert Crescent, Cliftonville, admitted charges of supplying and offering to supply Class A drugs and was jailed for four-and-a-half-years.
• James Hollyer, 42, of Kipling Road, Ashford, received a three-and-a-half-year sentence for supplying cocaine.
• And Jason Conway, 36, of New Street, Ashford, was given a five-year sentence after admitting heroin charges.

Others from as far away as Eastbourne, Hounslow, Bethnal Green in London and South Croydon, were also sent to prison for dealing in east Kent. All admitted a variety of dealing charges involving both Class A and B drugs.

The sentences of Gary Woodall, 43, of Love Lane, Margate; Lindsay Lang, 27, of King Street, Margate; Craig Thomas, 28, of Rokesley Road, Dover; and Robert Taylor, 36, of Victoria Road, Folkestone, were postponed until next mont for either pre-sentence reports or special hearings to decide if their basis of pleas are acceptable to the judge.