TWO drug dealers have been jailed after an Evesham police raid where £1,730 worth of crack cocaine and heroin was found under a toilet bowl.

Aesop McKay, aged 39, of Culford Drive, Birmingham, and Dominic Bogle, aged 35, of Kilby Avenue, Birmingham, were convicted of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

McKay and Bogle appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Wednesday (April 10) and were sentenced to eight years, and three years, ten months, in prison respectively.

Simon Grinnell, aged 51, of Summerfields Gardens, Evesham, had already admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs in 2019. He was given a two-year community order including 12 months of drug treatment.

Officers executed a warrant at Summerfields Gardens in Evesham in the summer of 2018 following information that occupants were in possession of class A drugs together with a firearm.

Known drugs user Simon Grinnell and two men from the West Midlands area, Bogle and McKay, were found there.

West Mercia Police have said that the circumstances of the arrest were consistent with the cuckooing method of drug supply being used.

This is where the home of a vulnerable person is taken over by criminals to use it to deal, store or take drugs.

Officers searched the property and found a foil package containing bulk quantities of crack and heroin with an estimated street value of £1,730 under a toilet bowl, street deals of heroin in a kitchen drawer and scales and blades for preparing drugs.

Phones and sims were also seized, and a car was found which led police to McKay’s address where they found £1,220 in cash under a mattress.

Phone analysis showed they had been used for the supply of crack and heroin into Evesham on the Ghost Line - the name of the telephone number, or ‘deal line’, used to run the organised drug-dealing network.

Detective Constable Alex Pullen of the South Worcestershire County Lines Team said: “We are pleased to secure the guilty verdicts and sentencing for McKay and Bogle following a complex but successful investigation by the team.

“Despite their efforts to frustrate criminal proceedings causing significant delays, the sentences imposed demonstrates our commitment to bring individuals involved with County Lines drug dealing to justice.

“Putting these criminals behind bars removes another threat to rid the streets of this most impactful and harmful illegal activity as we continue to actively identify, investigate and prosecute all others attempting to do the same.”