A drug dealer has been jailed after carelessly stamping his very own name onto his drugs.
I know, you couldn't make this shit up. Stephen Best, 30, appeared at Brighton Crown Court on Monday 3 June following an earlier guilty plea to the possession of cannabis and four counts of possession with intent to supply drugs (cocaine, MDMA, cannabis and cannabis resin). Sharing a mugshot of Best on Facebook yesterday, Sussex Police wrote: "This is Stephen. Stephen had a storage unit full of drugs. Stephen stamped his name onto his drugs."Stephen was wanted and handed himself in to police. Stephen expected to be imprisoned and took a bag. Stephen packed drugs to take to prison."Stephen didn't think we'd search his bag. Don't be like Stephen and deal drugs."Police had been alerted to Best's activities by Trading Standards, who were conducting a search of storage lockups in Worthing on 13 November. After a 'substantial amount' of drugs were discovered, officers arrived at the scene, but Best drove off - speeding through a red light in the process. He was later identified as the owner of the storage unit, with the Prevention Enforcement team also discovering he owned a yacht at Brighton Marina. But that wasn't it. After the storage unit and boat were searched by officers, on closer inspection, the name 'Besti' could be seen printed on some of the cannabis resin bars.
I know, you couldn't make this shit up. Stephen Best, 30, appeared at Brighton Crown Court on Monday 3 June following an earlier guilty plea to the possession of cannabis and four counts of possession with intent to supply drugs (cocaine, MDMA, cannabis and cannabis resin). Sharing a mugshot of Best on Facebook yesterday, Sussex Police wrote: "This is Stephen. Stephen had a storage unit full of drugs. Stephen stamped his name onto his drugs."Stephen was wanted and handed himself in to police. Stephen expected to be imprisoned and took a bag. Stephen packed drugs to take to prison."Stephen didn't think we'd search his bag. Don't be like Stephen and deal drugs."Police had been alerted to Best's activities by Trading Standards, who were conducting a search of storage lockups in Worthing on 13 November. After a 'substantial amount' of drugs were discovered, officers arrived at the scene, but Best drove off - speeding through a red light in the process. He was later identified as the owner of the storage unit, with the Prevention Enforcement team also discovering he owned a yacht at Brighton Marina. But that wasn't it. After the storage unit and boat were searched by officers, on closer inspection, the name 'Besti' could be seen printed on some of the cannabis resin bars.
On 27 November, Best handed himself into the police arriving with a bag he said he'd packed in case he was remanded in custody. Only thing is, when officers searched the bag they found a large quantity of cannabis inside.Facepalm.Perhaps unsurprisingly, Best was remanded in custody and was handed a total of 42 months in prison. Investigating officer Detective Constable Noel Simmonds referred to the investigation as 'unique' for several reasons. He said: "The number of drugs was considerable and while it is not unusual for drug dealers to set up brands of drugs, I've never seen someone stamp their own name into them."It's quite rare as well for someone to arrange the date, time and location of their arrest and still turn up in possession of illegal drugs."As well as the physical and mental harm caused by illegal drugs, they are a contributing factor to violent crime and Sussex Police will continue to target those trading in them as part of our strategy to make Sussex safer for everyone."We hope this sends out a strong warning to those that would deal misery on our streets, and it encourages people in our communities to step forward and talk to the police."Richard Sargeant, West Sussex Trading Standards Team Manager, said: "Our sniffer dog operation led to this discovery of drugs and I am pleased that by working in partnership with Sussex Police, this individual was brought to justice."