Two people have been charged with Class A drugs and human trafficking offences in Essex.

Police on the A12, at the border of Essex, stopped a vehicle they believed was connected to drug dealing.

Officers seized the phone of one of the car's occupants the day after the police stop, which through their investigation they believed to be involved in supplying drugs in Essex.

Essex Police and the Metropolitan Police officers worked together and raided addresses in Colchester and Romford on Thursday, arresting a man and a woman on suspicion of drugs and human trafficking offences.

Now, 25-year-old Ryan Thomas, of Norman Crescent in Brentwood, is charged with being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine, human trafficking and modern slavery.

Alison Kirby, 28, of Chinook in Highwoods, Colchester, was also charged with being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin, and modern slavery.

Both appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Friday 5 April, and were remanded in custody until a future court hearing.