Men jailed for Brighton drugs offences

 Two men have been sentenced in connection with their roles in drug dealing in Brighton.

Ivan Bokolo and Ebrima Macauley used an address in Cannon Place where a large quantity of class A drugs were found.

Both men returned to a room at the address, where police had set outside to guard the scene.

Bokolo attempted to dismantle his mobile phone in front of officers, and swallowed a SIM card from a mobile phone during the course of his arrest.

Separately, he was also observed at a later date operating from a rented accommodation property in Richmond Place.

They were charged and appeared before Lewes Crown Court, where they were jailed for their offences.

The court heard how officers attended the property in Cannon Place at about 8am on August 23, 2020, in relation to a separate matter.

Inside a room they found more than 200 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine worth an estimated street value of more than £2,000.

Ebrima, 28, formerly a factory warehouse worker of Coltsfoot Path, Romford, attended the property at 9.45am where he was arrested on suspicion of possessing 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 could link both men to the drugs and to using the room as a base for drug deals.

Then on November 17, 2021, Bokolo was observed entering and exiting a premises in Richmond Place.

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 draw string 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.

Bokolo was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison after admitting two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply, and one count of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.

Macauley was 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.

Macauley was sentenced to a total of eight years in prison for two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply.

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 courts.”