Police enforcement puts drug dealer behind bars

A drug dealer selling cocaine on the streets of Loughborough has been jailed following a policing operation to crackdown on County Lines.

Tawanda Bvumbe, of no fixed address, was sentenced on Monday (21 August) to four years and six months in prison after admitting running a drugs line in the area – offering class A for sale by sending out more than 30 text messages a day to possible users.

Following months of intelligence gathering, officers had enough information to be able to arrest Bvumbe as part of the national County Lines Intensification Week enforcement earlier this year.

On Tuesday 28 February, officers assigned to the operation from the force’s Roads Policing Unit were given details of a grey Mercedes AMG – believed to be linked to the drugs line.

Within an hour of the information being passed, Sergeant Steve Jackson from the team had spotted the car and safely stopped it in Cotes Drive, Loughborough.

Additional officers attended to assist and the driver of the car – 32-year-old Bvumbe – was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the supply of class A drugs.

A search of the car was carried out and £4,700 in cash was recovered, along with two mobile phones.

Following an examination of the phones by specialist officers, one was later found to be the phone used to facilitate the selling and distributing of class A drugs in the area.

Since the arrest, the investigation has been managed by detectives in Loughborough – most notably Detective Constable Chris Webster, the officer in the case.

He said: “As the officer in the case it has been my responsibility to ensure a thorough investigation has been carried out but the outcome achieved has been possible thanks to the efforts of so many officers and staff from across the force.

“Bvumbe was operating as part of a major County Line in the Loughborough area and his imprisonment has no doubt helped to protect vulnerable people and reduce the crime associated with the financing of drug use and drug taking.”

Bvumbe pleaded guilty on Monday (21 August) to being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and possession of criminal property and was sentenced the same day.