Drug dealer who exploited vulnerable boys is put behind bars after Luton raid

A drug dealer arrested in a Luton raid who trafficked vulnerable teenagers to sell drugs has been handed Bedfordshire’s first Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Order.

Schimarr Smith, 20, has been jailed for more than five years for running a county drugs line from Luton to Cambridgeshire. The judge gave the order to Smith after the court heard how he had exploited two vulnerable boys.

He moved them across the counties, leaving them in drugs dens to be easily accessible to his customers. Smith became a person of interest after police went to a Cambridge property and discovered a boy with Class A drugs and a mobile phone.

Police arrested Smith – alongside 21-year-old Dante Daley-Witter – after a raid in Runham Close in Luton. Inside, more than £2,000 cash, two bags of individually packaged deals of cocaine and heroin, phones, knives, and a stab proof vest were found.

Police discovered that Smith’s phone was near the boys’ phones on numerous occasions, and had made the same journeys where the boys were driven from Luton to Cambridge and then left there.

During the sentencing, His Honour Judge Johnson made note that although Smith had been a victim of modern slavery himself when he was younger, he had chosen two boys ‘ripe for exploitation’ and done the same to them.

Schimarr Smith of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two counts of modern-day slavery offences and conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin. He was sentenced to serve five years and one month, initially to be served in a Young Offender Institution.

He was also made subject to an STPO for 10 years, this stops him from owning more than one mobile device, and from having any unsupervised contact or communication with anyone under the age of 18.

Dante Daley-Witter, of Runham Close, Luton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis and was sentenced to two years and four months in prison.

Detective Sergeant Flaminia Romita, from Bedfordshire Police’s specialist Boson Guns and Gang Unit, said: “I’m pleased with the Judge’s stance and for granting the first STPO for Bedfordshire, which places strict conditions on Smith for a very long time. This has now set a precedent which we’ll use in our favour to protect young and vulnerable people from dangerous drug dealers like Smith.

“County lines gangs groom children by showering them with gifts, money and making them feel that they will be looked after. These tactics often mean the young person is then in their debt and will owe them favours, such as carrying weapons or selling drugs. They have no problem with putting a young person at risk to make money.

“I hope this result will be a warning to those who exploit children to deal drugs in our county and further afield that they will not go unpunished.”