Two men have been jailed for their role in drug dealing in Brighton by a judge at Lewes Crown Court.
Judge Stephen Mooney jailed Ivan Bokolo for nine years and seven months after he pleaded guilty to two counts of having class A drugs with intent to supply and a charge of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.
Judge Mooney jailed Ebrima Macauley for eight years after he admitted two counts of having class A drugs with intent to supply.
Bokolo and Macauley used an address in Cannon Place where a large quantity of class A drugs were found. They had heroin and crack cocaine estimated to be worth more than £2,000.
Both men returned to a room at the Brighton address where Sussex Police had set outside to guard the scene.
Bokolo tried to dismantle his mobile phone in front of officers and swallowed a SIM card from a mobile phone during the course of his arrest, Sussex Police said.
Separately, Bokolo was also seen at a later date operating from a rented property in Richmond Place, Brighton.
Both men were charged and appeared before Lewes Crown Court where they were jailed for their offences on Friday (20 January).
The court was told that officers had gone to the property in Cannon Place at about 8am on Sunday 23 August 2020 about a separate matter.
Inside a room they found more than 200 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine with an estimated street value of more than £2,000.
Ebrima, 28, formerly a factory warehouse worker, of Coltsfoot Path, Romford, and Frederick Street, in Camden, London, attended the property at 9.45am where he was arrested on suspicion of having class A drugs with intent to supply.
Bokolo, 29, unemployed of Pultney Street, London, then arrived back at 12.30pm and was arrested on suspicion of the same offence.
Evidence from inside the room linked both men to the drugs and to using the room as a base for drug deals.
Bokolo was seen entering and leaving a property in Richmond Place on Wednesday 17 November 2021.
A phone linked to a drug dealing telephone line dubbed “Rico” was found on his person. The phone had been used to send bulk advertising messages for drug deals.
Inside the address, police found a Louis Vuitton drawstring bag containing 100 wraps of class A drugs and £5,000 in cash secreted into the cooker extractor fan.
Expensive designer clothing was also found inside the property which was at odds with Bokolo’s unemployed status.
Macauley was also identified as being responsible for the running of a county line supplying class A drugs for a period between February 2022 and July 2022. It is estimated he was involved in the supply of over 1kg of both heroin and crack cocaine in the Ipswich area.
His arrest and charge came about following a joint investigation between Suffolk Police’s Serious Crime Disruption Team and the Metropolitan Police, as part of Operation Orochi.
Detective Sergeant Mark Pinder, from Brighton CID, said: “Bokolo and Macauley were both distributing drugs which cause so much harm in our communities.
“They were acting as part of a ‘county lines’ group operating from London in the Sussex and Suffolk areas.
“This case demonstrates our determination to disrupt the supply of drugs to help protect our communities from drug-related harm.
“There is a huge amount of work done to catch offenders. To do this effectively, we work closely with other agencies and police forces, including with the Metropolitan Police and the Op Orochi team.
“Offenders bringing class A drugs to Brighton and Hove will not be tolerated so we are pleased with the outcome and with the significant prison sentences imposed by the court.”
