Dealer who used Stevenage children to run drugs is jailed

A dealer who used children to run drugs in Stevenage has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

Julian Borja, 29, from Dongola Road, London, was sentenced to seven and a half years at St Albans Crown Court after being arrested and charged with conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

The court heard how Borja used a team of vulnerable young people to deliver drugs and move money around his network in Stevenage.

During sentencing the judge called the situation, 'a chain of misery'.

Borja was arrested during a Hertfordshire Police operation called "Operation Mantis".

The team was launched in 2018 and is made up of officers who specialise in targeting serious and organised crime.

Detective Sergeant Jon Leak from Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Operation Mantis team said: