Two jailed for running County Lines drugs network between Birmingham and Warwickshire

Two drug dealers have been jailed for their involvement in running a County Lines drugs line between Birmingham and Warwickshire.

Theo Kelly, 28, of Overbury Road, Birmingham, and Joshua Smith, 26, of Fairbourne Tower, Birmingham, were sentenced on Friday (February 9) at Birmingham Crown Court.

The West Midlands Police County Lines Taskforce executed search warrants at a flat in Fairbourne Tower in June 2022, where large quantities of crack cocaine and heroin were found, along with mobile phones linked to the Q drugs line. The drugs line would send out bulk broadcast messages advertising the availability to users with call data, showing regular travel of the line between Birmingham, Warwick and Leamington Spa.

The investigation revealed that around 2.3 kilos of Class A drugs were supplied with a street value of around £170,000. Officers from the County Lines Taskforce worked with Warwickshire Police, who initially investigated Kelly in 2020.

They began an investigation into the Q drugs line in 2022 and following enforcement in July of that year, Kelly and Smith were arrested and charged. Smith pled guilty at a hearing in August 2022 but Kelly entered non-guilty pleas.

Kelly was found guilty at a trial at Birmingham Crown Court in April 2023, and in May of 2023, he entered guilty pleas to earlier offences from 2020. During the hearing, Smith admitted to supplying just under 1kg of crack cocaine and heroin for his involvement, and it was the comments of the judge that the remaining 1.3 kilos were supplied by Kelly, who oversaw the entire operation.

The two were sentenced on Friday, with Kelly receiving six years and 10 months imprisonment, and Smith, four years and six months.