A DRUG dealer, who has been jailed after exploiting a teenager, was “left with no choice but to admit his shameful actions”.

Upon his arrest, Tommy Minton, 20, was found to be carrying drugs, cash and the mobile phone used to run the “Cody” drug line.

Specialist drugs officers with the Operation Raptor team had long been building intelligence against the “Cody” line, which was run by Minton and operated between January and October 2023.

Appearing for sentence on Thursday, Ipswich Crown Court was told he ran a “particularly well-oiled and planned operation”.

In October 2023, officers were conducting a missing person enquiry relating to a vulnerable teenage boy when they received information he may be staying at a hotel in Colchester.

He was found in a room at the address alongside an amount of suspected heroin and crack cocaine and cash.

The boy was taken into custody and safeguarding measures were put in place.

Just hours later, officers were called back to the hotel to reports Minton was trying to access the same room.

He was stopped and caught carrying cash, wraps of Class A drugs, weighing scales and the ‘Cody’ drug line phone.

Essex Police’s investigation established Minton had been using the teenage boy to do the risky and often dangerous work of running drugs to customers.

We further uncovered marketing messages advertising the sale of Class A drugs from telephones linked to Minton.

Minton was charged with and admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine, possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine and a Modern Slavery offence.

He was sentenced to six years and nine months imprisonment.

County Lines gangs make money by exploiting vulnerable people, including children, to do their dirty work.

Det Con Andrew Kirkpatrick, officer in the case, said: “As is so often the case, drug dealers looking to sell these extremely harmful substances turn to those they can readily exploit.

“We will see it through cuckooing – a practice where these dealers will arrange for a drug user’s home to be used as a base of operations or even take it over completely.

“We also see such examples as Minton’s case, where children are brought on board – often with false promises of wealth or status – and instructed to carry or run drugs and cash.

“The most vulnerable take the risk, with none of the reward, and that is a very sad reality of Class A drug dealing across the UK.

“We worked hard to ensure this exploitation, which falls under the Modern Slavery Act, formed part of the case against Minton.

“He was left with no choice but to admit to his shameful actions due to the extensive evidence gathered against him.”