In September 2023, investigators identified bulk messages were being sent to local users, offering heroin and cocaine for sale.
The phone being used was known as the ‘Ice line’ and detectives discovered that four separate numbers were being deployed by the criminal gang. Their enquiries led them to identify Brandon Chalcroft as the co-ordinator of the whole network with Daniel Cook also taking a key role.
Chalcroft was arrested on 6 December 2023 and officers seized a mobile phone. A total of £1,475 in cash was also recovered. Simultaneously a search warrant was executed at Cook’s house and he was detained after a mobile phone, along with crack cocaine and heroin deals, were seized.
Chalcroft, of no fixed address, and Cook, of Frindsbury Road, Rochester, were later charged with being concerned in the supply of heroin and being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine. Both men pleaded guilty to the indictments at Maidstone Crown Court. On Thursday 30 May 2024, Chalcroft, 22, was jailed for three years and two months and Cook, 32, received two years and three months’ imprisonment.
Detective Constable Martin Aird, of Kent Police’s County Lines and Gangs Team, said: ‘Two more county line dealers are starting well deserved prison sentences. Until they are inevitably tracked down, these criminals bring misery to the communities of Kent while seeking to make a considerable profit.
‘We are always alert to new lines when they start offering class A drugs for sale, and it is only a matter of time before we identify who is behind the phone number. They are then swiftly and robustly brought to justice and this should serve as a warning to any others who seek to follow their example.’
