Southend: Five men charged with drugs offences

On Thursday 28 September, officers arrested two men on suspicion of being concerned with drug supply offences in Basildon.

Mitchell Pearson, 19 of Bridge Road, Erith has since been charged with possession of a controlled class B drug, being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine, possession with intent to supply class A drugs, possession of criminal property and robbery.

John Blackford, 57 of Lombardy Close, Pitsea has been charged with being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine, possession with intent to supply crack cocaine, possession of a controlled class B drug, production of a controlled Class B drug and possession of criminal property.

Both men have been remanded into custody and will appear at Basildon Crown Court on 30 October.

As part of a separate case, three men have been charged as part of an investigation into drugs offences in Southend.

On Thursday, 28 September, officers were on patrol near Prittlewell Street in Southend, when they were involved in a pursuit which left a police vehicle and a nearby fence damaged. Three men were arrested and have since been charged with drug supply offences.

Akeem Lawrence, 24 of Mayesbrook Road, Dagenham has been charged with dangerous driving, being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine, being concerned in the supply of heroin, possession of criminal property and two counts of criminal damage.

Jeffrey Zakaria, 24 of Warrington Road, Dagenham has been charged with possession with intent to supply crack cocaine, being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine, being concerned in the supply of heroin, possession of criminal property and two counts of criminal damage.

Beau Cooper, 20 of Malting Lane, Orsett has been charged with two counts of criminal damage, possession of criminal property, being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and being concerned in the supply of heroin.

The three men will next appear at Basildon Crown Court on 30 October.

These arrests and charges were following proactive work from our Operation Raptor teams, who focus on proactively targeting criminality involving county lines drug dealing and gang related crime.