Kettering drug dealers jailed following police operation
They were sentenced at Northampton Crown Court
Three men have been sent to prison as part of an operation in Kettering which aimed to bring drug dealers to justice.
Between March and August last year, Anthony Turigel, aged 19, previously of Princes Street, Kettering, Joshua Edward Groom, aged 24, previously of Markby Road, Birmingham, and Jokubas Pavilonis, aged 23, previously of Hazelwood Road, Corby, were working the Ocean Line and dealing crack cocaine and heroin to people in Northamptonshire.
The line was set up after police dismantled the Real AM Line in March and made a number of arrests as a result.
One of the phones used by the Real AM Line was renamed and used by the Ocean Line gang to deal the Class A drugs.
But police were onto them, and in March last year, officers arrested both Turigel and Pavilonis in Cambridge Street, Kettering, and following a search of Turigel’s house nearby, a quantity of cash, scales, and drug paraphernalia were found. The renamed phone was also seized and an investigation was launched.
Then in August, Pavilonis and Groom were stopped at a hotel car park in Corby, and more phones were found and seized.
A fourth man – Olatide Nathan – was arrested for a separate incident on January 24, 2022, when police officers spotted him in Wantage Road, Northampton, and on seeing the officers, he discarded a package of cocaine. When they caught up with him, a quantity of cash suspected to be linked to drug dealing was also seized.
Turigel, Pavilonis and Groom were all charged with two counts of conspiring to supply Class A drugs, with Groom also charged with possession of Class B drugs.
Nathan, aged 21, of High Street, Northampton, was charged with two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
After pleading guilty to the offences at hearings at Northampton Crown Court in October last year and January this year, all four men were sentenced last week (March 7th).
Groom was sentenced to three years and nine months, Turigel to three years and six months, Pavilonis to two years, suspended for 21 months, and Nathan to two years, suspended for two years.
These results were achieved by Operation Voltage which launched in March 2023 and was led by Northamptonshire Police’s Proactive Crime and Intelligence Team (PC&I). The aim of the operation was to tackle County Lines and their associated criminality in the north of the county by having a dedicated investigation team focusing on charging and remanding as many offenders as possible.
Detective Sergeant Dan Spires, of PC&I, said:
“This is a great example of the relentless nature of our work to disrupt drug dealers in this county and bring them to justice.
“These men thought that our work was done when we dismantled the Real AM Line however that wasn’t the case, and when they set up the Ocean Line it wasn’t long before we were closing in on their criminal enterprise.
“This is an example of the great work carried out by Operation Voltage which was a huge success last year and resulted in 41 drugs lines being disrupted, £100,000 in cash seized, 132 arrests made, 154 charges secured, and the safeguarding of 48 children and 26 vulnerable adults.
“Tackling drug harm remains a priority for this Force and we will continue working hard to put more people like this gang behind bars.”