Police officers from the county spent years disrupting the high-level drugs crime masterminded by David Oladimeji.

When his attempts to corner Carlisle's illicit drugs trade were repeatedly wrecked by successive investigations, the 28-year-old Londoner shifted his focus to other areas – but he failed to reckon with the persistence of Cumbria's detectives. 

The crucial evidence they gathered over almost three years of painstaking work has now helped convict Oladimeji.

Faced with overwhelming evidence of his guilt – including thousands of pages of phone records linked to his drugs crime in Cumbria – he admitted three offences: conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, possessing criminal cash – part of the proceeds of his crime; and illegally possessing ammunition.

He was jailed for 13 years and 8 months.

Following the conclusion of his case, Cumbrian detectives have been able to speak for the first time about their role in bringing Oladimeji to justice.

Detective Chief Inspector Patrick McDonnell, from the Cumbrian force’s serious and organised crime unit, said the seeds of Oladimeji’s downfall were sown in 2017, when officers stopped the car he was in while visiting Harraby, Carlisle.

Scene of the arrest - the Harraby area of Carlisle (Image: Google StreetView)

They were acting on intelligence about a 'county lines' drug dealing operation which had targeted Carlisle.

A lucrative trade which exploits the the desperation of addicts, it often features criminals from urban areas - such as Liverpool or Manchester - exporting their illicit drug dealing into other areas, across county boundaries, using tried and tested techniques, including violence and intimidation.

Addicts are exploited, their homes often invaded and taken over in exchange for free drugs. Local addicts are recruited into supply networks, the trade fuelled by 'text bomb' adverts which advertise the drugs for sale.

“In 2017, we started to get intelligence about people from London running a county lines operation in Carlisle,” said DCI McDonnell. “We identified the head of this gang as somebody with the nickname Sammy.”

The criminals were peddling crack cocaine and heroin – a trade that experts say typically generates profits of at least £3,000 every week.

For almost three years, Cumbrian police officers targeted and shut down these highly organised drugs operations - but as soon as one set of dealers was taken off the streets, others emerged to replace them.

Making an area 'hostile' for criminals

“Between August 2017 and May 2019, six county lines drugs operations were identified and dismantled by Cumbrian detectives", said DCI McDonnell.

A succession of street dealers were prosecuted and jailed.

One 'dealer' sent to Carlisle by Oladimeji’s gang was aged just 16. But the repeated police successes in dismantling these operations ultimately helped to protect Carlisle from Oladimeji’s criminal ambitions.

Cocaine, the basis for a lucrative and deadly trade. (Image: Newsquest)

“Sometimes, if you make your area 'hostile' for such criminals, they’ll move on to somewhere else where they may feel they won’t get the same level of scrutiny,” said DCI McDonnell.

“We were very successful in targeting this gang and disrupting their operations and I believe that resulted in them deciding to move to somewhere else.”

When the gang pulled out of Carlisle, the officers involved in the previous six investigations faced a choice: should they abandon their efforts to build a case against the elusive Sammy, proving once and for all who he was?

Or should they continue to target their chief suspect, the Londoner arrested in Harraby in 2017?

They chose the latter.

'A hardened criminal'

The detectives were certain their theory was correct, but Oladimeji was an expert at keeping his distance from the operations he ran, said DCI McDonnell.

“Our information told us Sammy was the head of this crime group, but the CPS didn’t think we had enough evidence,” said the officer.

So how did Oladimeji react when police quizzed him?

"He was no shrinking violet!" said DCI McDonnell. "A hardened criminal," he added.

But, determined that their suspect should not go unpunished, the Cumbrian detectives continued investigating.

They launched Operation Ouzo, its aim being to build a case against Oladimeji, proving he was the Mr Big behind the six Carlisle county lines operations.

Working with police forces outside Cumbria, they established key evidential links to their suspect and drugs offending elsewhere. Gradually, following many hours of painstaking work, they built up a picture of the drug baron’s movements.

Over hundreds of hours, the officers analysed telecommunication data, fitting together the jigsaw pieces of Oladimeji's crime empire. As they worked with colleagues in Norfolk and Suffolk, the police teams began to learn more about Oladimeji’s dealing in the southeast.

They identified two 'addresses of interest' in southern England. Oladimeji's luck finally ran out when police arrested him as he left a flat in London.

Inside the property, officers discovered incriminating evidence: heroin, cash, firearms components and – perhaps most crucially – the 'burner' phones used by the criminals in charge of the dealing. 

READ MORE: How five phones helped trap a major drugs criminal who targeted Cumbria

Phones linked to different county lines operations were stored in separate envelopes: one had a label suggesting Stoke, and another was marked CAR: it contained the drugs phones used in the Carlisle operations.

'These investigations are complex and challenging'

DCI McDonnell said: “His operations had national coverage; they worked from one end of the country to the other. It would certainly have been generating hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“There’s a lot of expertise in our team and the result of this investigation shows the benefits of working with other forces. Investigating high-level county lines drug dealing is complex and challenging.

Detective Chief Inspector Patrick McDonnell (Image: Cumbria Police)

“But [in this case] there has been a lot of perseverance and toil.

“There are huge logistical problems and geographical problems and jurisdictional problems. But there’s huge satisfaction when, by working with other forces, we successfully get to the person at the top of the tree.”

The gun parts found in the flat also point to another grim reality of the drugs trade: how violence and intimidation are integral to it.

DCI McDonnell said: “Because of their addiction alone, drug users are vulnerable. There’s a credit basis to dealing drugs.”

Such debts help to trap addicts, leaving them at the mercy of dealers.

Those who challenge or resist the dealers risk violence – sometimes extreme violence. But thanks to Operation Ouzo, and the efforts of officers in Cumbria and in Norfolk and Suffolk, Oladimeji is now behind bars.

He was sentenced on March 29 at Peterborough Crown Court.

'A cautionary tale for drug barons everywhere'

The investigation that helped bring him to justice was part of Operation Alliance, Cumbria Constabulary’s ongoing response designed to protect the county against serious and organised crime.

Detective Constable Tim Prangnell, from the Cumbria Constabulary’s Cumberland serious & organised crime unit, said: “Oladimeji was a key individual in bringing crack cocaine and heroin into the Carlisle area for a number of years.

“Despite his efforts to remain distanced from the criminality through using the County Lines drug supply method, through working in partnership with Norfolk and Suffolk’s Serious & Organised Crime Unit, we were able to hold him accountable for this activity, despite the historic nature of the offences.”

For drug barons everywhere, David Oladimeji's experience is a cautionary tale: bring your trade to Cumbria and you will be found.

DC Prangnell added: “Operation Alliance sees us work with various other law enforcement and partner agencies to protect people and bring criminals like Oladimeji to justice.

“This substantial prison sentence should serve as a clear message to anyone considering involving themselves in similar criminal activity.

"Cumbria is not safe place for county lines criminals dealing drugs, and we will do all we can to stop those intent on exploiting our communities.”

In 2016, David Oladimeji was among three men who were acquitted of being part of the gang who attacked and murdered a teenager.  

Marcel Addai, 17, was stabbed 14 times when he tripped and fell trying to evade knife-wielding members of the fearsome Fellows Court gang. Four members of the gang, who hunted down and stabbed the teenager to death, are serving life sentences.