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UK - A mobile phone abandoned in a Chester taxi triggered a police investigation that has ended with a man being jailed for more than four years.
The phone was handed into Chester police station on 5 April last year. Officers saw drug-related messages flashing on the lock screen. A man later arrived to collect the phone, telling officers he had been asked to do so on behalf of a friend. He was arrested, his phone seized, and his home searched. Police found ecstasy pills, cannabis and ketamine, along with snap bags and digital scales. Messages on his device also showed evidence of the supply of cocaine, MDMA, ketamine and cannabis.
Detectives then traced the case to Kevin Ozemelam, from Salford, Manchester Evening News reports. The 29-year-old was arrested in Merseyside on June 2 and taken to Chester police station. His phone was examined and found to contain contact linking him directly to the man who had attempted to retrieve the device from police.
Cheshire Police later said it appeared the first man had been pressured into selling drugs, and he was treated as a victim with no further action taken against him.
Ozemelam, of Bury Street, Salford, was charged with being concerned in the supply of cocaine, ketamine, ecstasy and cannabis. He also faced charges of assault and requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour.
At Chester Crown Court on Wednesday, Ozemelam admitted the drug supply offences. He was sentenced to 50 months in prison and given a five-year restraining order. The court was told the charges of assault and forced labour would remain on file.
Detective Inspector Rupert Morrey, of Cheshire Police, said the initial phone left in the taxi 'turned out to be good fortune for our officers' - but not for Ozemelam.
"He is now paying the price for peddling illegal drugs in the community and we have taken a variety of drugs off the streets," he added.
"We will continue to make every effort to rid the streets of illegal drugs and make life difficult for those intent on criminality."
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/m ... r-35814737