Drug line controller jailed for seven years

A man who ran a drugs line in Brighton has been jailed for seven and a half years

Patrick Kargbo, 23, ran the line by sending hundreds of messages marketing heroin and cocaine to a group of contacts from a single mobile phone.

Between Monday 14 July and Friday 12 December last year, Kargbo sent more than 950 bulk messages advertising drugs from the phone, Lewes Crown Court was told.

After months of investigation, police raided an address in Ryelands Drive, Brighton, on Tuesday 9 December.

Sussex Police said: “Officers seized

• 74 wraps of cocaine
• 4g of heroin
• 8g of cocaine
• over 700g of a crack cocaine cutting agent
• four sets of scales
• multiple pots and containers containing crack cocaine residue
• £10,885 in cash

“Kargbo was located inside the property after having tried to flush a mobile phone and drugs down a toilet. The phone was also seized and he was arrested.

“The next day (Wednesday 10 December) Kargbo was charged with five counts of possession with intent to supply a class A drug and breach of a slavery and trafficking prevention order.”

The trafficking prevention order, prohibiting from having a phone not registered with the police, was imposed four years ago when Kargbo was jailed for modern slavery and drug dealing.

Sussex Police added: “He appeared later the same day (Wednesday 10 December) at Brighton Magistrates’ Court and was remanded in custody.

“The investigation continued and, at his plea hearing on Thursday 21 May 2026, Kargbo pleaded guilty to the charges and was remanded until his sentencing.”

Kargbo, 23, of Royal Sussex Crescent, Eastbourne, was jailed for seven and a half years by Judge Stephen Mooney at Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday 22 July.

Judge Mooney ordered Kargbo to forfeit the cash which will be handed to the Sussex Community Foundation.

The judge also ordered Kargbo to forfeit the drugs, paraphernalia and phone and for them to be destroyed.

Naomi Edwards, prosecuting, told the court that Kargbo had previously been jailed for four years and nine months in February 2022 at Brighton Crown Court for supplying drugs and trafficking a child.