'Sinister' drug dealer disguised drugs as sweets and chocolate to appeal to children
A drug dealer who disguised drugs as sweets and chocolate to appeal to children has been jailed after police found £121,000 worth of drugs at his base.
Elliot Kennedy operated a large-scale drug dealing enterprise in Witton Lodge Road, Erdington, Birmingham, where he packaged and shipped his drugs to customers.
Police raided the base in March 2022 and found £121,000 worth of drugs, including a large volume of edibles were made to appeal to children with packaging making them look like sweets and chocolate.
Officers also seized mescaline, a psychadelic drug, which was disguised as tortilla chips, alongside magic mushrooms, cannabis, cocaine and MDMA.
A large volume of packaging and postage labels were found, including reels of international customs declaration stickers, suggesting the drugs were being shipped internationally.
Officers were able to put an end to the 34-year-old’s drug dealing operation after acting on information and obtaining a search warrant.
Officers from the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) had to break through a reinforced metal security door to get into the drugs base, as well as a wooden door blocked off from the inside and braced with wooden bars.
Kennedy jumped out of the bedroom window as officers broke down the doors, However, following a foot chase officers quickly caught and arrested him.
The 34-year-old, of Plants Brook Road, Sutton Coldfield, pleaded guilty to 23 counts of drugs possession.
He was jailed for seven-and-a-half years at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday.
Detective Constable Holly Percival, from ROCU, said: “This was a significant drugs supply operation, which we've now crushed and removed a prominent drug dealer from our streets.
“The drugs trade often involves the exploitation of children and the fact Kennedy was manufacturing drugs to look like sweets and chocolate shows how sinister and dangerous this operation was.
“Drugs can not only cost lives, but is also linked to serious violence between drug gangs and other crimes, and there will be no let-up in our work to tackle those involved in the illegal supply of them."
