Drug dealers jailed for almost 30 years after officers dig up heroin and cash buried in garden

Two men involved in running drugs supply lines in Northamptonshire have been jailed for almost 30 years.

George Pavlou, 28, and Matas Sukaitis, 18, sold cocaine and heroin across the county including in Corby and Wellingborough.

Pavlou, from Northampton, was also found to have given a firearm to a third man - Dalston Phillips, 22, from Kettering.

During a search at Phillips’ home, police noticed a garden trowel in the porch and freshly disturbed soil in the garden.

After digging up the area, they uncovered 27 wraps of heroin and £14,000 in cash.

Cocaine and heroin wraps hidden in coffee jars with Phillips’ and Sukaitis’ fingerprints on them were also found, along with a large quantity of cash, and drugs worth more than £30,000.

Phones were seized, which revealed they contained texts offering drugs for sale, with the line sometimes sending up to 140 messages a day to potential customers.

On 15 May 2021 in the Kingsthorpe area of Northampton, officers saw Phillips was carrying something heavy in his pocket.

He was later stopped in a vehicle by armed officers who found a silver revolver with a brown handle, in the footwell of the car.

They also found a black and silver ‘Rambo’ style machete knife.

Phillips was charged with the transfer of a prohibited weapon and conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs.

He admitted the gun offence, and following a trial on the drugs offences, was convicted by a jury. He was sentenced to a total of 14 and a half years in prison.

Pavlou, was charged with the transfer of a prohibited weapon and was found guilty at a trial in June 2022.

He was also charged with the supply of Class B drugs and money laundering offences. He was jailed for 15 years and three months in prison. 

Sukaitis, from Corby, was found guilty of supplying Class A and B drugs and was given a two-year jail sentence, suspended for two years.

Det Con Julian Allen said: “This was a very complex investigation involving numerous warrants and multiple lines of enquiry, and I am really pleased to see all three men sentenced for their crimes.

“Dalston Phillips in particular was a significant member of an organised crime group and seeing him handed a substantial prison sentence is very satisfying because it means Northamptonshire becomes just that little bit safer."

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