Two drug dealers have been jailed after they were arrested by police patrols in Margate.
Marcus Ireland, 18, and Andrei Gantz, 19, were detained by officers who found Ireland had drugs.
Gantz was then spotted discarding drugs before he was stopped in the town a month later and Ireland was arrested again following an incident in Broadstairs.
Ireland was jailed for three years and Gantz was given a one-year term at Canterbury Crown Court on Monday (June 15).
The pair were first arrested together after police were called to Millmead Road in Margate on Saturday, January 12.
Ireland was searched after he was seen leaving a flat and was found to be carrying cocaine. Gantz was found inside the property carrying a mobile phone which had messages relating to drug deals on it.
Gantz was then seen in St John’s Road, Margate on Thursday, February 14 and dropped items on the floor when he saw officers. The items were found to be four wraps containing heroin and cocaine.
At the time of the offences, Ireland was on a criminal behaviour order (CBO) given to him by a court in 2018, in which a judge ordered that he not go out between 8.30pm and 7am for two years.
He was in breach of that when he was involved in a disturbance in The Broadway, Broadstairs at 10pm in December 2019.
Gantz, formerly of Margate, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a class A drug with intent to supply and two of offering to supply a class A drug. Ireland, formerly of Broadstairs, admitted three drugs charges, affray and breach of a CBO.
Detective Constable Rebecca Mross, Kent Police’s investigating officer, said: “Ireland and Gantz are persistent offenders who had not been discouraged from criminal activity by previous interventions by police and the courts.
“Kent Police is determined to disrupt and shut down drug networks in the county and I hope the custodial sentences in this case deter others from getting involved.”
