Four more drug dealers sentenced following raids

Four dealers have been sentenced following work by officers to disrupt organised gangs fuelling the supply of drugs in Staffordshire.

Nikita Lismanovics, 19, Ethan Wilson, 18, and Troy Francis, 23, all from Burton, were sentenced at Stafford Crown Court on Thursday 23 January after pleading guilty to conspiring to supply crack cocaine and heroin between 8 August 2023 and 25 April last year.

Francis was jailed for three years, while Wilson and Lismanovics received two years and three months in a young offenders’ institute.

Nikita Lismanovics

Ethan Wilson

Troy Francis

Julie Stringer, 30, also from Burton, was given a 22-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after admitting conspiring to supply crack cocaine.

It comes after we searched 10 separate addresses in simultaneous raids in Burton-on-Trent in April last year.

We found £20,000-worth of heroin and crack cocaine and mobile phones linked to dealing.

The raids followed months of proactive work by officers, to investigate men and women linked to several county lines operating in Staffordshire.

In October last year, two other men were jailed - one after being found guilty and the other after admitting being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin, and possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

Then, in December, another man was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison after admitting being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin.

Detective Chief Superintendent, Nicki Addison, said: “Thanks to the tenacity and hard work of our Major and Organised Crime proactive teams we have been able to shut down three county lines and work towards making our communities safer.

“We continue every day to work proactively and target those involved in this kind of criminal activity in Staffordshire, as part of our Operation Target commitment to tackle serious and organised crime.”