Three men convicted of possession of £1000 of drugs and sawn-off shotgun
Three men from South London have been convicted after police found they had discarded £1,000 worth of crack cocaine and heroin and a sawn off shotgun with ammunition during a chase last year.
After noticing the occupants of black BMW acting suspiciously on Rotherhithe New Road, in Southwark, on November 19, 2020, police attempted to stop the vehicle, but it sped off.
Soon afterwards, the car came to a stop and the driver, Kane Lamar, 25, from Salter Road, Southwark, was detained.
The two passengers, later identified as Jack Purfield, 25, of Chilton Grove, Southwark and Enriquo Withers, 20, of Queenstown Road, Wandsworth, made off from the scene.
Police chased the two men through a nearby estate and located Withers in a front garden, where he was arrested.
Two packages, discarded by the suspects, were found nearby and later confirmed to contain ammunition and around £1,000 worth of crack cocaine and heroin.
Police then retraced the route taken by Purfield and Withers and located a black holdall in the corner of a courtyard, which contained sawn off shotgun, further ammunition and several pairs of rubber and latex gloves.
Police failed to catch Purfield during the chase, but he was found and arrested a number of days later.
Detective Constable Tim Tripp, from the Met’s Violent Crime Taskforce, said: “We are always working to remove guns and other weapons from the streets of London and we are pleased that another deadly firearm has now been removed from circulation.
“Those who carry weapons should be in no doubt – we will use every tool at our disposal to protect our communities by prosecuting those intent on perpetrating serious violence.”
On Monday, October 25, all three appeared at Inner London Crown Court where they were convicted of two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs, possession of a shotgun without licence and two counts of possession of ammunition without licence.
They were remanded in custody pending sentencing on Friday, December 17.
Pictured top: Enriquo Withers, Kane Lamar and Jack Purfield