A drug dealer who traveled to Basildon to deal and was caught red-handed carrying has been jailed for three years.

Basildon Crown Court heard how officers from the Operation Raptor team were patrolling in Basildon on June 24 this year when they spotted 23-year-old Leonardo Campbell on the footbridge over Broadmayne.

He was watched carrying out a drug deal before cycling off in the direction of Long Riding.

Officers followed him into Long Riding and watched him entering a block of flats where he is believed to have carried out another drug deal.

Campbell then returned to the bridge over Broadmayne where he was seen supplying drugs to a group of men.

Operation Raptor officers approached him and he fled on his cycle.

They gave chase, pursuing him at first by car, and then on foot as he ran into a block of flats in Long Riding where he is believed to have swallowed his drugs.

He was arrested and searched and was found to have cannabis and a mobile phone linking him to the supply of drugs and the drug dealing county line known as “Tom”.

PC Adam Blackwell of the South Operation Raptor team said: “Dealers like Campbell think they can come into our county and ply their drugs on our streets.

“However what Campbell and others like him don’t bank on is that Operation Raptor is always one step away.

“We know who our dealers are, we know who they associate with and we know where they go to sell their drugs, which is why we caught Campbell red-handed.

“We welcome this sentence and hope it sends out a message to other drug dealers that they are not welcome in our county.”

Campbell of Lawn Lane, Vauxhall in South East London was arrested and charged with possession of cannabis, being concerned in the supply of the Class A drug cocaine and breaching a suspended prison sentence. He was jailed for 36-months.

Campbell was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court on Wednesday November 7.