Chatham county line drug dealer jailed

A drug dealer from Chatham has been jailed for more than three years.

Toby Able used bulk text messages to sell heroin and crack cocaine and target users across the Medway towns.

Able, 22, was sentenced to three years and two months’ imprisonment at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday 26 September 2023, after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of both crack cocaine and heroin.

He was initially identified as a suspect on 4 March 2023, after officers in Medway seized a phone from a woman arrested for class A drug supply offences.

Subsequent enquiries including an examination of the device identified Able, of Maidstone Road, Chatham, as the holder of a phone number that had been used to send marketing messages to drug users in the area.

A search warrant was carried out at Able’s home address on 6 July, where officers recovered two phones, which had been used to send the messages.

Able was arrested and later charged after entering guilty pleas in August, was sentenced on Tuesday 26 September.

Detective Sergeant Kelly Leventis, of Kent Police’s County Line and Gangs Team, said:

‘Able spent four months as a key player in this supply chain of class A drugs to the Medway towns. He reaped significant financial benefit from taking advantage of addiction and showed little understanding of the corrosive effects his offending will have had on the towns and neighbourhoods he targeted. ‘Criminals like Able wrongly believe they can operate without consequence. However, we are showing time and time again that the reality is that drug dealers who try to exploit some of the most vulnerable people in our communities can expect a robust response and ultimately a prison sentence.’