A county line drug dealer who used fake names to fool cops has been caught for supplying crack and heroin.

Enoch Odubanjo, 22, of Egmont Street, Lewisham, ran a county line called the ‘Fiver’ line, which was a phone number offering the sale of drugs in the Chatham area.

He was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday, September 10, to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to wear an electronic tag for six months.

He was found guilty at the same court on Friday, June 25 of two counts of offering to supply a controlled Class A drug between September 2019 and March 2020.

County lines is the name given to drug dealing where criminals use phone lines to move and supply drugs, usually from cities into smaller towns and rural areas across the whole country.

When he was arrested in March 2020, Odubanjo was also found in possession of a second drugs line number.

During his police interview he gave a combination of ‘no comment’ answers as well as replies denying any wrongdoing.

He said he did not know what the ‘Fiver’ drug line was and that he had no involvement in supplying crack cocaine and heroin but he did admit to giving false details to police.

He was charged on 10 March 2020 and was convicted as above.

Detective Constable John Davis, the investigating officer from the South East Basic Command Unit (Greenwich, Lewisham, Bexley), said: “Thanks to great partnership working with Kent Police, we were able to gather overwhelming evidence against Odubanjo being the line-runner for the ‘Fiver’ line, which the jury agreed with – despite Odubanjo’s denial of any wrongdoing.

“He tried his best to evade capture, providing false names and denying ownership of mobile phones, but it was not enough to fool us.

“Our enquiries showed he sent thousands of text messages to drug users over the course of six months and supplied them with a huge quantity of class A drugs.

“Drugs devastate communities and destroy lives, but Odubanjo did not care about this as long as he was making money.”

Timeline of Events 

In late 2019, acting on intelligence and communications data provided by Kent Police, the Met began an investigation into the ‘Fiver’ line.

The line was suspected to be commonly controlled from South London.

Bulk text messages were often sent out from the phone, with a message sent on 8 November 2019 reading: “Best of both back on 4 for 20. Fiver.” – ‘Both’ refers to crack cocaine and heroin for sale.

Odubanjo was arrested on December 3, 2019, after he was chased on foot by cops following reports of a fight at a nearby pizza takeaway in Chatham.

He gave a false name to police officers and was found to be in possession of £405 in cash and eight wraps of heroin.

He was arrested on suspicion of affray and possession of a Class A drug and was subsequently released under investigation pending further enquiries.

Cops noticed that the ‘Fiver’ line stopped being used after Odubanjo’s arrest.

On the morning of his arrest, a bulk broadcasting message had gone out from the phone.

Between September 20 and December 3, 2019, around 17,447 messages were sent to and from the phone.

Odubanjo was not in possession of the phone or SIM card at the time of his arrest.

The investigation continued into early 2020 and officers were able to establish that the ‘Fiver’ line frequented the vicinity of a number of addresses in South London and one address in Chatham all associated with Odubanjo – further corroborating he was the line-holder.

The ‘Fiver’ line also had regular communication with his mother and partner.

Following this, Odubanjo was ‘wanted’ for drugs supply.

He was stopped in Chatham on March 9, 2020, after officers witnessed what they believed to be a drug deal.

He was found in possession of two £10 notes and a ‘burner’ phone.

He again gave officers a fake name and told them he did not know the PIN to access the phone nor did he know the number as it had been ‘given to him by a friend’.

Officers soon learnt his real name and discovered there was a warrant out for his arrest.

He was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs.

Analysis of the phone and SIM card showed several bulk text messages had been sent out, with many referring to ‘the best of both’ ‘being on 24/7.’

He was charged on 10 March 2020 and was convicted as above.