Five sentenced over County Lines drug dealing into Bognor Regis

Five people involved in a 'County Lines' drug supply chain between London and Bognor Regis have been sentenced to a total of 32 years in prison.

On 28 August 2020, officers from the Metropolitan Police and Sussex Police executed two Misuse of Drugs Act warrants; one at Pittman Gardens in Ilford, East London, and the second one at Berrymill Close, Bognor Regis.

Inside the Ilford address three men were arrested, Liban Abdulle, Abubaker Sahal and Igors Gogu. Around 700 grams of Class A drugs was recovered with a potential street value of £66,000. Also at the address was the 'deal line phone', controlling what was known as the ‘Henry’ drugs line selling heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of West Sussex.

At the flat in Bognor Regis, Holly Gittings and Adam Braggs were arrested, having been found with over 1000 wraps of Class A drugs with a potential street value of around £12000.

Gittings and Braggs are shown left to right above.

See drugs found in Bognor, in a safe specially acquired for the purpose.

A car owned by Gogu was seized, which had been moving the drugs from Ilford to Bognor.

The five were sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on Friday 27 August for being concerned in the supply of drugs.

Liban Abdulle, 30, from Pittman Gardens, Ilford who was out on prison licence when detained at the flat, was sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment. Abubaker Sahal, 30, of Leytonstone Road, Stratford, East London, was sentenced to eight and a half years imprisonment.

Holly Gittings, 23, from Lewisham, received a six and a half year prison sentence.

Igors Gogu, aged 37, and from Ellasdale Road, Bognor Regis, was sentenced to six and a half years, and Adam Braggs, 33, from Berrymill Close, Bognor Regis was sentenced to 35 months.

All apart from Gogu, had offered guilty pleas prior to a trial. He was found guilty after a two day trial at Guildford Crown Court on 30 June.

Sentencing the five, Judge Stephen Mooney described how Abdulle and Sahal, with no ties to Sussex, had overseen the distribution of heroin and crack cocaine onto the streets.He said that Class A drugs ‘wrecked lives and communities and had a corrosive effect on society’.

Detective Inspector Alan Pack of the West Sussex Community Investigation Team said; "This was another successful operation in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police Operation Orichi team, with whom we work closely to disrupt and bring to justice dealers seeking to bring dangerous and lethal drugs from London to vulnerable people in West Sussex."

If you have any information about drug dealing please contact the police online  or by calling 101.

There are also many sources of further advice and assistance to help combat the harm caused by drugs. Safe Space Sussex takes you to all the local organisations who provide support for those affected by drugs misuse.