Two men jailed for county lines drugs operation

Mitchell Chantler, 24, left, and Cain McCann, 26, right, were jailed on Friday

Two men behind a drug trafficking gang have been jailed following a "meticulous investigation".

Mitchell Chantler, 24, and Cain McCann, 26, were running a county lines operation, using dealers to traffic drugs from Coventry to Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, police said.

The pair were arrested after detectives spotted a suspected drug deal and detained a suspect in the town's Victoria Park on 3 February this year.

Messages suspected to be planning drug deals were found on the suspect's phone, leading officers to Chantler and McCann, a force spokesperson said.

When the pair were arrested officers also seized a handwritten list of customers, police added.

At Warwick Crown Court on Friday, Chantler, of Moor Street, Coventry, was jailed for five years and three months after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine.

McCann, of Sowe Close, Bulkington, was jailed for three years and three months after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin and possession of criminal property.

Det Insp Pete Sherwood said Chantler and McCann were "using other people to do their dirty work for them".

"The evidence from our investigation left them with little choice but to plead guilty and they will both now spend time behind bars," he added.