Dealer found with £85k block of crack cocaine tried to outrun police after hitting stinger on M54

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard that Amari Miller, from Auckland Road, Birmingham, had previously pleaded guilty to four offences - two charges of possession with intent to supply class A drugs, and being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.

The charges related to crack cocaine and heroin.

Megan Fletcher-Smith, prosecuting, said that the 24-year-old had been running the 'Mitch' county line into Telford from Birmingham.

The court heard that he had been sending bulk messages to customers advertising the drugs for sale.

When caught by police he tried to conceal his true involvement, first by attempting to destroy evidence of the messages, then providing police with an address for a previous residence.

Ms Fletcher-Smith said that after trying the address and being told by his mother that he had not lived there for 18 months, officers tracked down another address through the probation service.

When they visited that property they found Miller's uncle, who said the defendant had been living there for a year and a half.

During a search of Miller's room at the property police found a large 238g block of crack cocaine worth more than £85k, as well as wraps of heroin, scales, a kitchen knife, a machete, and bank cards and a driving licence in his name.

Ms Fletcher-Smith said police had mapped a 'county line' from Birmingham into Telford, dubbed the 'Mitch' line - with the drug telephone handset travelling between the two locations, co-locating with Miller's own personal phone at the same time.

On January 9 officers saw a black Vauxhall Astra owned by Miller on the M54.

They used a stinger to burst the tyres on the vehicle but Miller did not stop, continuing towards Stafford Park, before the car was boxed in on the A464 where he was arrested.

As he was taken into custody his iPhone was seized, but officers also found and Alcatel mobile in the footwell of the Astra.

Ms Fletcher-Smith explained it had been dismantled with the SIM card snapped.

She said that officers subsequently discovered that the 'Mitch' line had been operating for 46 days, from November 2024, to January this year.

The court was told bulk messages were sent out on 80 occasions - to as many as 93 people at a time.

The messages, which were signed off '#mitch' said 'three for 25', 'you getting paid tonight, give you a good deal', and 'ten out of ten stuff, if not I will refund you'. 

The court heard Miller had a number of previous convictions for dealing - and was locked up for five years in 2021 for dealing crack cocaine and heroin into Telford.

Curtis Myrie, mitigating on behalf of Miller, said he had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and is still a young man with aspirations to turn his life around.

He said: "This is a young man still, but a young man who there is evidence has significant levels of immaturity - no doubt compounded by the fact he has spent most of his young life in prison as a result of his previous convictions."

Sentencing, Judge Deni Matthews said that Miller's offences were aggravated by his previous offending, as well as his attempts to conceal his crimes.

But he said he accepted the defendant has a genuine resolve to move on from his life of crime.

Miller was sentenced to four years in prison - and will likely serve no more than half before his release.