Two men jailed for drug dealing in Dorset
The pair were arrested in Boscombe during a proactive operation
Two drug dealers from London who used children as young as 13 to act as runners in Bournemouth have been jailed.
20-year-old Amman Khan-Brown from Sulina Road in Brixton Hill and 21-year-old Lee Wedderman from Rosslyn Road in Barking were running a county line in the town supplying class A drugs.
Khan-Brown has been sentenced to thee years and two months in prison, with Wedderman getting a two year and two month jail term.
Both will also have to pay a ÂŁ190 victim surcharge.
The pair were arrested in Boscombe, as part of Dorset Police's Operation Viper tackling county lines drugs operations.
Information gathered during this investigation found the men were running drug lines in Bournemouth with children as young as 13 acting on their behalf.
When Khan-Brown and Wedderman were arrested in May, a quantity of suspected class A drugs as well as around ÂŁ1,000 in cash were recovered.
The drugs were confirmed as cocaine and heroin, with a total street value estimated at more than ÂŁ1,200.
Police also seized two mobile phones from the address, which were found to contain evidence that they were being used for the supply of class A drugs.
Inspector Nick Lee, of the BCP NET, said:
“Through our investigation, which was supported by the Metropolitan Police, we were able to identify two drug dealers who played a significant role in a county lines operation in the Bournemouth area and take action against them.
“This has also ensured that we have been able to safeguard a number of vulnerable young people who were being exploited by these defendants to peddle drugs on their behalf.
“This case sends another strong message that we will not tolerate people coming into our area to operate drug supply networks in our communities and that we will take robust action against those involved.
“We would continue to encourage anyone with information regarding the supply of drugs in your area to report it to us by contacting Dorset Police at www.dorset.police.uk/contact or by calling 101. If a crime is in progress, please dial 999. Alternatively, independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously online at Crimestoppers-uk.org or by calling Freephone 0800 555 111.”
Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, David Sidwick commented:
“Week after week we are seeing the positive results of Operation Viper here in Dorset. The work of Dorset Police’s Neighbourhood Enforcement Teams in disrupting the activities of county lines drugs gangs, identifying offenders, gathering evidence, getting good cases to court and has directly resulted in more and more drug dealers being sentenced to years and years in prison.
“My thanks go to the whole team behind Op Viper and I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the residents and communities of Dorset, who give vital information and community intelligence to the police, in order to help stop county lines and drug criminality – such valuable information is vital if we are to make Dorset the safest country.”