Peterborough drug line operators jailed for over three years

Both Chris Seymour (29) of Lowick Gardens, Peterborough and Billroy Marembo (27) of Adderley, Bretton were jailed at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday (July 18).

The two men were responsible for running their own drug lines, which involved sending our bulk messages via mobile phones to indicate that either heroin and crack cocaine were available for sale. Marembo was also serving buyers from another drug line.

Both Seymour and Marembo pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

The court heard that Seymour was arrested on August 1, 2023 in possession of 50 wraps of cocaine and heroin as well as a number of phones.

He operated two separate lines between February and July 2023 which rose from sending messages to 20 customers to 80 before police shut the line down. Police found that the phones used by Seymour over 150 times a day.

Marembo was arrested at the same time as Seymour with wraps of crack cocaine in his car.

The court heard Marembo operated four lines with grew to a peak of 162 messages per day in June 2023.

In sentencing Seymour, Judge Sean Enright described him as having played a ‘significant role’ in the supply of drugs. He took into account Seymour’s guilty plea and mitigating factors such as his ADHD and PTSD before handing down a prison sentence of 14 months and 14 days.

The court had heard that Marembo was studying for a Masters at university before the Covid pandemic hit and he was left homeless as he was unable to return home to live with his mother as she was shielding. He lived at a short time at the YMCA hostel in the city where he ‘fell into the wrong crowd and began offending.’

In his sentencing, Judge Enright described Marembo as a man with significant potential but that due to the scale and duration of the drug line he must sentence him to a total of 32 months and 14 days in prison.