Balloon Goes Up For Square Mile Cocaine Dealer

A cocaine dealer, caught in the heart of the City of London, is starting a prison sentence after police were alerted to suspicious nitrous oxide balloon inhalation in his vehicle.

Twenty-seven wraps of the Class A drug were found, along with a large Rambo-style knife and approximately £10,000 cash.

Paul Crabtree, 43, of Lewisham High Street, Hither Green received a total of six years and eleven months imprisonment after a sentence for conspiring to burgle in Kent was added.

On Tuesday, July 2, last year police received reports of individuals inhaling from balloons while sitting in a car in the heart of the Square Mile in Bread Street.

The search also found twenty-one nitrous oxide cannisters.

Crabtree received two years and eleven months for possession of cocaine, with intent to supply and possession of a bladed article.

An additional four years was added consecutively for the burglary conspiracy.

PC Pradip Gurung, of City of London Police's Criminal Investigation Department said: “People carrying these Rambo-style knives are doing so to intimidate and cause fear. 

“Paul Crabtree was dealing drugs and carrying a lethal Rambo-style knife.

“Drugs in London severely impact our communities, drive violence and organised crime and can lead to vulnerable people being exploited.

“City of London Police are committed to bringing organised crime groups to justice and making our streets safer.”