A teenage London dealer who preyed on drug users in a coastal town has been locked up.

Joseph Odoi was arrested in the capital and an analysis of his phone revealed messages sent to clients in Dover on a county line called 'Ghost'.

The 19-year-old heroin and cocaine pusher was apprehended when officer from Kent followed a car linked to dealing in the county to East London last month.

When Odoi, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was searched police found around £2,000 down his trousers and a mobile linking him to the supply of narcotics in Dover.

County line dealing is the description for the method used by organised crime in major cities to expand their drug supply network into smaller towns and rural areas.

Police first became aware of the 'Ghost' line in Dover in June.

A search of Odoi's home in Stoke Newington led to the seizure of around £8,000 in designer clothes which he could not explain how he purchased.

"This sentence will take him off of our streets for a significant period of time..."

He later admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine, as well as possession of criminal property, and on Monday at Canterbury Crown Court Odoi was sentenced to three years and nine months in a young offenders' institution.

DS Martin Williams, of Kent Police's dedicated county lines team, said: "Kent Police is determined to shut down county lines groups who prey on some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

"Odoi's spending showed he was involved in the higher criminal activities of class A drug distribution and I am pleased this sentence will take him off of our streets for a significant period of time."

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