TWO Blackpool drug dealers have been jailed for more than three years each after running an “organised crime operation”, supplying heroin and crack cocaine.
Shaka Watson, 19, of Lytham Road, South Shore, and Dale O’Connor, 27, of Kent Road, central Blackpool, were each handed three years and four months in prison.
A third defendant, Anthony Watkins, 25, of Frenchwood Avenue, Preston, was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail.
All three men had pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply heroin and crack cocaine at an earlier hearing.
Police had gathered evidence showing drug dealing taking place in an alley off Central Drive, central Blackpool, in March and April this year.
Officers also carried out a raid on Watkins’ home where they found half-an-ounce of crack cocaine in an outhouse with a street value of around £1,000.
But the key to the case was a mobile phone, intercepted by police, which had been used to arrange drug deals – more than 600 times per day on some occasions.
Insp Keith Lee, of Lancashire Police, said: “The offenders ran an organised crime operation which involved the selling of crack cocaine and heroin arranged from Preston and dealt in Blackpool.
“These drugs were sold on multiple occasions as evidenced by police investigations.
“These sentences show drug dealing will not be tolerated.”
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