Drug dealer carried on as normal in jail

A teenage drug baron who continued to run his business from behind bars was jailed for 11 years.

Amal Lynch, 19, used the prison phones inside HMP Pentonville to call his contacts and keep his enterprise running following his his arrest in August 2016.

Lynch was arrested on August 25 last year when police raided his home in Vanguard Close, Canning Town, east London.

Accomplice Diogo Cunga, 18, threw a parcel containing 159 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine out of the window.

Lynch’s DNA was also found on the barrel of a loaded 19th century revolver found during a police raid at an address on Beaconsfield Road, Plaistow, on June 21.

A loaded Uzi machine gun was also found at the scene.

Edmund Blackman, prosecuting, said: ‘While in custody, Lynch used the prison telephones, to communicate with people outside prison, carrying on the drug business.

‘He made multiple instructions in selling, obtaining and adulterating the drugs.’

Sentencing Lynch, Judge Sheelagh Canavan said: ‘On 21 June last year at 45 Rowlands Court,

‘Police officers conducted a search and found a loaded Uzi in the garden and an antique firearm loaded with homemade ammunition.

‘Found on the barrel of that firearm was your DNA.

‘Police officers went to arrest you on 25 August, they went to premises where you were living.

‘There you and Cungo were in the bedroom, as they broke into the property you tried to close the bedroom door and took the opportunity to throw the package out of the window.

‘Unfortunately for you, police officers recovered those drugs and you were arrested.

‘Your conversations made in prison make it plain that you were continuing your operation of your drugs business from inside Pentonville Prison.

‘You were quite clearly the man in charge.

‘All too common are young men using firearms to kill other young men. They are lethal weapons.

‘It was a loaded firearm capable of causing death, this has a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.

‘It’s clear that those who carry firearms must expect to receive lengthy custodial sentences.’

Lynch gave a thumbs up to family members as he was lead out of court.

Lynch, of Vanguard Close, Canning Town, was sentenced to a total of 11 years in a Young Offenders Institute – five years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and six years consecutive for possession of a firearm. He admitted both offences.

Lynch initially denied owning the firearms and dealing drugs, but was busted after he used the Pentonville Prison phones to continue his criminal business from inside jail.

Cunga, of no fixed address, was sentenced to two years in a young offenders’ institute after he admitted possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.