As part of their ongoing work, the team made 18 arrests, secured 18 charges, recovered 10 weapons, and seized approximately £35,000 in suspected criminal cash in May 2022.

Courtney Cann, who was part of the ‘Mikey’ county line that brought drugs from London to Thanet, received a four-year, one-month sentence.

County Lines and Gangs Team investigators discovered a phone used by the Mikey line to organise heroin and crack cocaine deals in Margate in January and February 2022.

Officers were able to compare the times the drugs were brought to Margate with train times. Following further investigation, Cann was seen on CCTV on a train using the phone that had arranged the deals.

On Friday, March 11, he was arrested in Margate and charged with being involved in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine.

The 28-year-old, of Beechfield Road, Catford, south London, admitted the charges and was sentenced less than three months later at Canterbury Crown Court.

The court outcome was one of several obtained by the County Lines and Gangs Team’s investigations in May:

Following a separate investigation into the ‘Koby’ line in Medway, Aaron Clark, 26, of no fixed address, was charged with being involved in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin.

• Jannai Johnson, 25, of Albion Drive, Aylesford, was charged with being involved in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin, as well as possessing both drugs with intent to supply, as a result of an investigation into the ‘Ritchie’ line in Aylesford and Ramsgate.

• Officers investigating the operation of the ‘Milo’ line in Ramsgate arrested and bailed a 42-year-old woman, a 40-year-old woman, and a 17-year-old boy.

Kent Police knows that the people involved in county lines networks are all too often the same people involved in violent and acquisitive crime around Kent,’ said Detective Chief Inspector Matthew Talboys of the County Lines and Gangs Team.

‘As a result, and in order to save users and their families from the misery that drugs bring, we are determined to disrupt county lines groups at every opportunity and arrest and charge their members.’

The case of Courtney Cann demonstrates the meticulous investigative work that goes into charging drug dealers in order to secure jail terms that keep them off Kent’s streets.