A drug dealer who mistakenly texted a police officer about his latest illicit offerings has been jailed.
Jack Johannesen, 23, from Stirling Close, Sandy, Bedfordshire, was found guilty in Luton Crown Court on 18 July of two counts of dealing cannabis and one additional count of breaching bail conditions. He was sentenced to two years and 10 months.
The 23-year-old was part of an organised crime group operating across Biggleswade and Sandy, dealing in cannabis, crack cocaine and heroin.
On 25 October last year, officers carried out a search warrant at his home and arrested him on suspicion of supplying class B drugs.
Multiple phones were recovered, including one he had smashed and discarded in the kitchen bin. Recovered phone data revealed he had contacted more than 400 numbers to arrange drug deals.
Eight days after he was bailed, he sent out a group text advertising his new drug line using a newly-registered phone.
Without realising, however, he sent the message to the phone of a police officer that had been at the initial warrant.
Police returned to his address on 28 November and arrested him again for supplying class A and class B drugs.
They seized a small quantity of cannabis, nearly £2,000 in cash, some high value designer goods and another phone hidden behind a wardrobe that rang during the search.
Detective Constable Adam Geary, from the Bedfordshire Police Boson team, said: “We know that residents in Biggleswade and Sandy have felt the knock-on effects of drug-dealing within its communities.
“Our community officers have been working alongside local residents to identify drug-dealing hotspots and target those fuelling the issue for their own illicit gain.
“It is vital that we continue to work together and make our communities an inhospitable place for drug-dealers such as Johannesen.
“Johannesen is now rightfully behind bars, and we urge anyone with information about other drug-related crimes to come forward so we can continue to secure convictions against others who seek to cause harm.”
