London drug dealers 'cuckooing' in Milton Keynes caught with 120 wraps of heroin and crack

Frederick Willie and Mohamad Gbla tried to bully an addict into letting them set up shop at her home, a process known as cuckooing by the police.

The men travelled by train to Exeter as part of a so-called County Lines gang. County Lines are the name given by police to drug supply operations run by remote control in places like Exeter by big city gangs using mobile phones to take orders.

They were foiled when the owner of the flat off Wonford Road told police. They were found with a small amount of cocaine and a total of £1,500 cash between them.

They were both freed pending further investigations and went straight to Milton Keynes where they set up a more successful operation but was arrested again two weeks later.

This time they had 120 wraps of heroin and crack which they tried to wash down the drain but were retrieved from the waste pipe of the shower. They also had £230 cash and six mobile phones.

Willie, aged 19, of Odessa Road, Newham, and Gbla, aged 31, of Orb Street, Southwark, both admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and were jailed for 18 months each by Judge Erik Salomonsen at Exeter Crown Court.

He ordered they should serve the new sentences after they have finished serving sentences of six years and five and a half years which were imposed at Aylesbury Crown Court in October for the Milton Keynes offences.

He said:"In County Lines operations, the young men who come down to deal drugs or to cuckoo are not the main men in London but they do have significant roles in street dealing."

Mr Gordon Richings, prosecuting, said the men made two trips by train to Exeter from London with drugs but were unsuccessful in their attempt to set up a cuckoo operation.

The intended host resisted their offer to move into her flat and the police became aware of the situation and arrested the two men.

Mr Brian Fitzherbert, defending, said Willie played no definite role in the drug supply operation but both men were acting under orders from those higher up in the chain.

He urged the judge not to add too much to the very long sentences which both men are already serving.