Dealer who ran 'West Yorkshire Cartel' drugs line and 'HooverItUp247' Snapchat account jailed
He advertised cocaine, ketamine and cannabis on Snapchat
A dealer who ran a drugs line that he named the ‘West Yorkshire Cartel’ has been locked up.
Shane Vickers, 34, advertised cocaine, ketamine and cannabis through the Snapchat account HOOVERITUP247.
He was caught after officers from Operation Phoenix, West Yorkshire Police’s county lines taskforce, spotted an Audi making multiple stops and acting suspiciously.
On March 2 this year, officers from the Proactive Intercept Team stopped the car on the A629 between Silsden and Keighley.
They searched the car and Vickers, who was in the vehicle, and found a mobile phone and two lighters.
Police later searched a property in North Yorkshire and found a box of 44 new lighters and a roll of labels.
The digital forensic unit found that his phone contained evidence of bulk messages being sent via the Snapchat account @HOOVERITUP247. It advertised the ‘West Yorkshire Cartel’ number as the contact for the line.
Vickers, of Bradford Road, Cleckheaton, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine, ketamine and cannabis.
During his sentencing hearing at Leeds Crown Court this week, he was jailed for six years and ten months.
Detective Inspector Helen Chapman, who heads Operation Phoenix, said: “We welcome this sentence and hope it reflects the severity of the harm this type of offending causes.
“The supply of drugs fuels crime and violence in our communities and we hope this sentence warns others who seek to profit from criminality.
“I want to reassure our communities that Operation Phoenix will continue to take a proactive approach to disrupting and dismantling county lines drug dealing.”