A hero police dog helped sniff out a huge stash of drugs and cash – and put a dealer behind bars.
Raven led officers to nearly £200,000 worth of narcotics and money hidden under the floorboards of Kemar Lewis’ home.
The 41-year-old pleaded guilty to possession of class A drugs with intent to supply – crack cocaine and heroin – and class B drugs – cannabis.
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He also admitted possession of criminal property.
He was jailed for six years at Bristol Crown Court last Friday (12 Sept), with £25,000 of the cash seized forfeited to the courts, as reported by Need To Know.
The court heard how officers were patrolling anti-social behaviour and drug hotspots in east Bristol in August.
Around noon, a plain-clothes officer saw Lewis exchange small items for cash. He briefly lost sight of him, only to spot him again acting suspiciously outside his home just before 2pm – when he was arrested.
During a section 18 search under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, dog handler PC Harry Lewis and his specialist search dog, PD Raven, carried out an in-depth sweep of the property.
PC Lewis said: “Raven and I worked our way through the downstairs and some of the bedrooms and kitchen.
“I then took her to an area under the stairs where she showed an immediate change of behaviour, which led me to believe there was something concealed.
“This was an exceptional find for Raven and for the dog unit and really showcases the impact and importance of our specialist search dogs.
“PD Raven is one of our newest specialist search dogs, passing her initial training earlier this year.
“She came to us through a rescue centre where the rescuer recognised her keen sense of smell and desire to search.
“She has already proven herself an exceptional asset to the team and a great partner in fighting crime.”
Under the floorboards of his home in Kensington Park, Easton, Bristol, officers discovered heroin worth £55,000.
Plus crack cocaine worth £58,500, cannabis worth nearly £1,800, cutting agent worth £50,000, £16,475 in notes and £8,650 in coins – a total street value of around £170,000.
Neighbourhood Policing Inspector Tom Tooth said: “This positive result follows some brilliant proactive work carried out by our neighbourhood officers in East Bristol – who make up the additional resources put in by the government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee – after we received intelligence and feedback about areas of interest for anti-social behaviour and drug crime.
“Drugs can have a significant impact on our communities, and we know this is currently the case for the area around Stapleton Road in Easton.
“We are working with our partners and local residents to address this in a number of ways, one of which is to proactively target the open supply of drugs in public places.
“Through this operation, we have been able to take a large amount of drugs off the illegal market, hopefully giving local residents some reassurance that we are focussing on the harms caused by drug use and drug crime.”
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