FIVE people involved in a drug supply chain between London and Bognor have been sentenced to a total of 32 years in prison.

Officers from Sussex Police and the Metropolitan Police executed two Misuse of Drugs Act warrants on August 28, 2020.

The first was at Pittman Gardens in Ilford, East London, while the second was at Berrymill Close, Bognor.

Three men were arrested inside the Ilford address - Liban Abdulle, Abubaker Sahal and Igors Gogu – and around 700 grams of Class A drugs were recovered.

The drugs had a potential street value of £66,000.

The Argus: The drugs found at the Ilford address had a potential street value of £66,000 The drugs found at the Ilford address had a potential street value of £66,000

Police also found a "deal line phone" at the address, which controlled what was known as the "Henry" drugs line selling heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of West Sussex.

At the flat in Bognor, Holly Gittings and Adam Braggs were arrested after being found with more than 1,000 wraps of Class A drugs with a potential street value of around £12,000.

The Argus: Holly Gittings and Adam Braggs were arrested after being found with over 1000 wraps of Class A drugs Holly Gittings and Adam Braggs were arrested after being found with over 1000 wraps of Class A drugs

A car owned by Gogu was seized, which had been moving the drugs from Ilford to Bognor.

The group were sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on Friday, August 27, for being concerned in the supply of drugs.

Abdulle, 30, from Pittman Gardens, was out on prison licence when detained at the flat. He was sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment.

Sahal, 30, of Leytonstone Road, Stratford, was sentenced to eight and a half years imprisonment.

Gittings, 23, from Lewisham, received a six and a half year prison sentence.

Gogu, 37, and from Ellasdale Road, Bognor, was sentenced to six and a half years.

Braggs, 33, from Berrymill Close, Bognor, was sentenced to 35 months.

The Argus: Liban Abdulle, Abubaker Sahal and Igors Gogu Liban Abdulle, Abubaker Sahal and Igors Gogu

All apart from Gogu pleaded guilty prior to a trial. He was found guilty after a two day trial at Guildford Crown Court on June 30.

Sentencing the five, Judge Stephen Mooney described how Abdulle and Sahal, who had no ties to Sussex, had overseen the distribution of heroin and crack cocaine onto the streets of the county.

He said Class A drugs “wrecked lives and communities and had a corrosive effect on society”.

Detective inspector Alan Pack, of the West Sussex Community Investigation Team, said: "This was another successful operation in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police Operation Orichi team, with whom we work closely to disrupt and bring to justice dealers seeking to bring dangerous and lethal drugs from London to vulnerable people in West Sussex."