Failed getaway for Luton drug dealer handed five years in jail

Ethan Mitchell, 25, of Dewsbury Road, drove away from officers when they went to his address to question him on June 18 last year.

Desperate Mitchell mounted the kerb on a busy residential street to avoid several police cars, but officers eventually caught him on foot nearby.

Police seized a bag he was carrying which contained around £2,000 in cash.

After conducting a warrant in Mitchell's home, they located a safe which contained around £40,000 in cash, while further searches at the address uncovered cocaine and ecstasy.

Mitchell was charged with possession with intent to supply cocaine and ecstasy, as well as possession of criminal property.

On Wednesday, February 3, he was handed a total jail sentence of five years and three months for the offences.

Operation Costello is the largest operation in Bedfordshire Police’s history aimed at tackling organised crime gangs, going after the major players involved in the import and sale of drugs locally.

It is the force’s response to the national Operation Venetic, which looks at criminality concealed by specialist encrypted phones.

Cracking the encryption on these specialist devices has enabled police to shine a light on the drug networks suspected of being involved in the highest levels of serious and organised crime across the country.

Since July, Bedfordshire Police has carried out 83 warrants under Operation Costello, resulting in 44 arrests, 15 people being charged, and the seizure of firearms and other weapons, around six kilos of Class A and B drugs, as well as around £580,000 in cash.