Police raided drug dealer Christopher Prosser’s home in an operation that resulted in him and his half-brother being jailed for six years for conspiring to supply heroin and crack cocaine in a Suffolk town.

Two county lines drug dealers have been jailed for six years for conspiring to supply heroin and crack cocaine into a Suffolk town.

Maverick Dwyer and Christopher Prosser were arrested as part of an operation by Suffolk police and Met officers to target county lines.

The half brothers, who admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs in Haverhill at an earlier hearing, appeared before Ipswich Crown Court to be sentenced on Monday.

Dwyer and Prosser are the first to be sentenced since the launch of Operation Orochi in February.

The operation aims to shut down dealers by analysing the data of mobile phones used to buy and sell class A drugs.

Prosecutor Duncan O’Donnell said the conspiracy lasted from July 2019 to the date of their arrests in May this year.

Dwyer and Prosser were responsible for two phone lines transmitting bulk advertising text messages to drug users.

On September 6, police searched an address in Haverhill and found 8.44g of crack divided into 106 wraps, along with 15.37g of cocaine and 7.2g of heroin.

In February, both men bought phone credit for the two deal lines – and were found in possession of a total of five mobile phones when stopped and searched in March.

On May 28, warrants were executed in Ilford and Margate by Met and Kent police officers on behalf of Suffolk’s serious crime disruption team.

During the raid in Margate, Prosser punched a female officer in the chin and was charged with assaulting an emergency worker.

Richard Keogh, mitigating, said both had taken a “spectacular fall from grace”, having lost their jobs as a car window tinter and bodywork repairman, and been led into drug dealing to fund their own heroin habits.

He said just 57g of drugs were seized in total by police across all warrants executed as part of the operation – but that both men had still pleaded guilty to the conspiracy at the first opportunity and had used their time in custody to gain qualifications.

Judge David Goodin said county lines dealt in “dependency and degradation”, adding: “It’s a serious evil on society, which society expects to be dealt with severely.”

Dwyer, 26, of Alder Walk, Ilford, Essex, was jailed for six years, while Prosser, 32, of Louvain Road, Greenhithe, received six years and a further two months for assaulting a police officer.

Detective Chief Superintendent Eamonn Bridger said:“Working with the Met in this way is clearly having a significant impact on the supply of Class A drugs into Suffolk.

“Getting the people who control these drugs supply lines – the organised criminals at the centre of these networks – leads to their whole drugs operation being dismantled.

“In turn, we can then look to protect those young people who are often ruthlessly exploited to sell the drugs on our streets, as well as those at risk from the violence associated with county lines.

“This operation allows us to build a compelling evidential case before making any arrests. We are able to share intelligence in real time, leading to fast-time investigations. It means that we’re in a strong position to charge and remand the controller of the drugs line on the day of arrest, before they have an opportunity to pass the drugs line to an associate; effectively shutting it down.

“Our officers will work with the Met to arrest those responsible and bring them to Suffolk custody centres, and to be charged before the courts.”

“This collaborative approach to tackling serious and violent crime underlines our commitment in making Suffolk a hostile environment for those criminals who seek to supply drugs into our county.”