A local man has been jailed after he was found in possession of thousands of pounds worth of heroin and crack cocaine at an address in Bournemouth.
Louis Ricardo Huggins, aged 39 and of Forbes Close in London, appeared at the Isle of Wight Crown Court on Monday 11 October 2021 to be sentenced after admitting two charges of possessing class A drugs and intending to deal in the area.
On Friday 21 May 2021 officers conducted an address check in Garfield Avenue as part of another investigation regarding two missing teenage girls. When the police entered they found Huggins quickly running to the bathroom and attempting to flush a number of wraps down the toilet. In total 90 wraps of class A drugs, mainly crack cocaine, were recovered from the bathroom and a supply of heroin was found in his bedroom, including some blocks of uncut cocaine and £3,475 in cash.
The total street value of the drugs taken by police during the investigation was estimated at between £12,000 and £17,000.
The missing teenagers were both found at the address and the evidence gathered by the police revealed that they had recently travelled to London and been in contact with Huggins over the supply of drugs.
Detective Constable Steph Ashworth, of Dorset Police’s Integrated Missing Persons & Child Exploitation Team, said: “Drug dealers such as Louis Huggins who are involved in the supply of class A drugs as part of a county lines operation will routinely exploit vulnerable young people to facilitate their criminal activities”.
Huggins has been sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for these drug charges along with the intent to supply those in the community. Thankfully, the two teenagers that were found at his address have been questioned and safety measures have been put in place for their protection going forward.