Two men from London have been jailed for drugs supply offences in Portsmouth after appearing at Portsmouth Crown Court on Friday, 21 January

Elliott Bonney, 30, of Riverdale Road, Ilford was sentenced to 2045 days in jail for two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs after pleading guilty to both offences at an earlier hearing.

Tayo Odunukan, 29, of Tottenham Lane, Hornsey was sentenced to 26 months in jail after also pleading guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs at an earlier hearing.

The court heard that on Monday, 4 October, an off duty police officer witnessed a suspected drugs deal taking place between two men in Percy Road, Southsea. After the exchange, one of the men, identified by officers as being Elliott Bonney, entered an address in the same road.

Officers from Portsmouth’s High Harm team quickly attended Percy Road and witnessed Bonney leave the address and get into the rear of a taxi. Officers followed the taxi a short distance before stopping it at traffic lights on Fratton Road.

As officers approached the taxi, they saw Bonney trying to dismantle a Nokia phone.

Bonney was arrested and the phone was seized.

A short time later, officers carried out a search at the address in Percy Road. When inside the property, they located Odunukan in one of the bedrooms along with a quantity of suspected Class A drugs and a Nokia phone.

Following analysis, the drugs were confirmed to be cocaine and heroin.

The investigation also showed that the phone seized from Bonney was holding a drug line, that both he and Odunukan were using to send marketing messages advertising the sale of Class A drugs.  

Both men appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court on Friday, 21 January, where they were jailed for over seven years combined for drugs offences.

Detective Constable Terry Langworthy from Portsmouth’s Proactive CID said “This is an excellent result following a great piece of work by officers from the High Harm Team and the Criminal Investigation Department, supported by colleagues at the Metropolitan Police, which led to this result.

“Drugs supply and associated crime can be devastating to communities which is why we continue to do everything we can to tackle them and keep our communities safe. 

“I hope this sentencing sends out a strong message to drug dealers, that if they try to sell drugs in Portsmouth, we will find them and they will be jailed.

“We urge anyone who has any information or concerns about drug related activity in their neighbourhood to get in touch. Every call you make helps us to build a strong intelligence picture and enables us to take positive action and bring offenders to justice.

You can call police on 101 or online at https://www.hampshire.police.uk/.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to talk to the police, you can contact Crimestoppers 100% anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at https://crimestoppers-uk.org/