A DRUG dealer who used a 15-year-old boy to sell heroin and crack cocaine has been jailed.

Detectives watched Amir Khan as he supervised the boy dealing class A drugs on the streets of Brighton in January 2018.

They followed the 23-year-old to a nearby flat where they found cash and drugs “ready for sale”.

He was arrested and bailed.

But he then travelled to Kent where he continued selling drugs.

Officers searched a Ford Fiesta parked in Canterbury on October 24 and found a metal tub containing 16 wraps of crack cocaine and 41 wraps of heroin.

Mobile phone data showed that Khan had travelled to Ramsgate that day to meet the owner of the car in which the drugs were found.

It also placed him in Canterbury at the time officers searched the car.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Peter Frampton said: “Khan was linked to a telephone number that we knew sent out bulk messages daily to drug users in the Canterbury area offering class A drugs.

“Telephone cell site data showed that Khan was in control of the communications of the line and regularly travelled into east Kent to deliver the drugs.”

Khan, from London, was arrested in Plumstead High Street on January 17, 2019. He answered no comment during police interviews but admitted two charges of conspiracy to supply class A drugs when he appeared at Canterbury Crown Court on February 25.

He was caught as part of an investigation into a “county line”.

This is a phone number controlled by London gangs and used to sell class A drugs in smaller towns and cities.

Organised crime groups send runners into other counties to reach new customers.

Khan was sentenced to six years in jail at Hove Crown Court for his role in the “county lines” operation.

He was given 30 months for offences in Brighton and 45 months for offences in Kent, to run consecutively.

DC Frampton said: “We have evidence that Amir Khan was running this drug line into Canterbury from Woolwich and made regular trips to the city to deliver heroin and crack cocaine, happy to make money out of the suffering of others.

“We will continue to target the people who supply illegal drugs in our communities.”

“I hope this jail sentence serves as a timely reminder of just how seriously the police and courts take county lines drug activity.”