Baby-faced county lines leader, 19, ran cocaine and heroin dealing operation

30 January 2024 , 13:31

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Charlie Angel was sentenced to two years and six months’ imprisonment (Image: Sussex Police)

A baby faced teenager identified as running a county drugs line by “using vulnerable people” has been jailed.

Charlie Angel, 19, was identified by police who had initially been searching for a high risk missing person who was feared to have been exploited and involved in the supply of Class A substances. Officers from Sussex Police found the 17-year-old with two other teenagers in flat in Peacehaven, East Sussex, where Class A drugs were being prepared to be distributed.

A number of phones were seized which linked the trio to Angel and he was later arrested at a home in Northampton. He was found in possession of the drug phone and enquiries revealed he was in control of the drug line being used to facilitate the supply of Class A narcotics in the Snupe Drug Line.

He was charged with being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin, which he admitted and was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on 19 January. He was jailed for two years and six months.

PC Dave Oliver, of the Op Centurion team, said: “Angel attempted to avoid detection by distancing himself from the drugs, and using vulnerable people to prepare and supply them for him.

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“His conviction was made possible thanks to great work from the Op Centurion team, working in partnership with the Met Police’s Op Orochi team to combat County Lines drug dealing.”

Last year the Mirror reported how a woman went from being arrested for dealing and running from police to working with them to end knife crime in her local community. Nequela Whittaker's experience showed a way out of crime with support and hard work, but she says there needs to be more provision and education in society to help turn young people away from the destructive and dangerous road she found herself going down early in life.

It was 15 years ago around this time that Nequela, now 35, went to prison for drug dealing . She had been involved in what was later dubbed County Lines, transporting drugs from London to Scotland. At the time it was called Cunch or OT - which meant going to the countryside, so dealing drugs outside of London. She said when inside, she began to reflect on herself, and where she had ended up.

Antony Clements-Thrower