ANONYMOUS 'burner phones' are a standard drug dealer's tool, used to market illicit drugs and issue instructions to street dealers.

Finding such phones - and extracting the data they contain - is key to police investigations into all county lines drug supply operations, which often deploy slick marketing techniques.  

The drug dealing masterminded by David Oladimeji - in Carlisle and elsewhere - were no different and the phone data uncovered by the police helped prove he was 'Sammy', the brains behind it all.

That nickname was a thread that ran through at least six dealing operations in the city over almost three years. That evidence - along with geolocation information - was buried inside five phones seized from dealers.

Phone one: August 24, 2017

Police investigating local dealers seized an Alcatel mobile from a flat in Randall Street, Carlisle. Londoner Guisat Henriet was there. In his holdall was £1,472 in cash, while found in the toilet at the flat were wraps of heroin and crack cocaine.

Another £1,220 in cash was hidden under the living room sofa. The messages on three mobile phones the suspect had included references to “dark chocolate” (heroin) and “white chocolate” (crack cocaine).

Henriet later admitted conspiring to supply heroin, crack cocaine, cannabis and possessing criminal property.  He was jailed for 27 months. 

Phone two: May 22, 2018

A taxi driver collected a passenger from Eldon Drive, Carlisle. Unbeknown to the passenger, Hassan Ira, he was being tailed by the police. Stopped on London Road, he was carrying £1,439 in cash. At Eldon Drive, Carlisle man Peter Kenney was arrested. A mobile phone found at the property included the message: ‘SAMMY BACK ON, 15S ON BOTH’. 

Phone three: January 17, 2019

As another county lines operation got underway, users again received 'text bomb' drug adverts from Sammy - the name used by David Oladimeji. Phone messages linked to the operation demonstrated he was still targeting Carlisle as he had in previous operations. The text bombs came from the Watford area but police failed to identify who in the city was supplying the drugs on ‘Sammy's’ behalf.

Phone four: January 12, 2019

Police raided a property in Osborne Avenue, Carlisle, arresting Leon Kenyon. The 47-year-old was with a woman, Cynesha Elizabeth Brown, who had a mobile phone. In her holdall was £410 in cash. She had hidden 27 wraps of heroin in her underwear. On her phone were numerous messages indicating drugs deals. Again, the name Sammy featured.

Phone five: May 9, 2019

On May 9, 2019, police were alerted to suspicious activity in Sheffield Street, Carlisle. Inside the target property, police found Aneesa Ashraf, a female from Grenfell Road, Maidenhead, near London. She was sitting on the living room couch, using her mobile phone.  She had a bum bag, in which was plastic wrapping and cash.  Asked what was in the bag and she replied: “heroin and crack”.

A local woman linked to the property was also quizzed. She told police: “I had no choice; you have to do what he says”.  He was “Sammy,” she confirmed. Inside Ashraf’s bag were 52 wraps of crack cocaine and 38 wraps of heroin, worth £1,610, and £323 respectively. She and two others later admitted drugs offences. Ashraf was jailed for four years and seven months. 

An analysis of the mobile phones and data in the case showed connections to SIM cards and mobile devices seized on October 15, 2019, at Hertford Road, Enfield, London, following the arrest of Oladimeji.