County Line Dealer Banged Up for 4½ Years in Canterbury Crackdown
A county lines drug dealer has been slammed with a four-and-a-half-year jail sentence for flooding Canterbury with class A drugs. Ta-Shan Thompson-Campbell, 24, was nailed by Kent Police’s County Lines and Gangs Team as the brains behind the infamous ‘A1’ county line operating in the city.
Police Snatch Cash and Phones in High-Stakes Sting
On 12 February 2021, officers stopped a car in Canterbury with Thompson-Campbell riding shotgun. They seized over £2,000 in cash and the mobile used to run the ‘A1’ drug line. During a search of the vehicle on the A2050, cops found the ‘A1’ handset hidden under the driver’s seat – with the battery ripped out to avoid detection.
More than £1,400 was grabbed from Thompson-Campbell himself, plus an extra £900 stashed in the driver’s door. County lines gangs like this use mobile phones to push heroin and cocaine from big cities into smaller towns, ruining communities along the way.
Glaring Phone Evidence Exposes Drug Runs
Data from the recovered phones revealed Thompson-Campbell made 11 trips to Canterbury in just three months, running the drug operation. Bulk texts sent from the ‘A1’ phone confirmed he was busy marketing the illegal stash while in possession of the device.
Guilty Plea Sees Dealer Locked Up
Thompson-Campbell, from Reculver Road, Rotherhithe in south-east London, faced charges of dealing heroin and cocaine plus possession of criminal property. He pleaded guilty to all counts at Canterbury Crown Court and was sentenced on 27 July.
“Networks like this ruin lives, preying on the vulnerable and fuelling anti-social behaviour,” said Detective Constable Jake Griffiths. “We’ll keep cracking down on these gangs and won’t tolerate their criminal actions.”
