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Home Tunbridge Wells News Article
An illegal immigrant dealing in Class A drugs from a BMW – took police on a 70mph chase through Tunbridge Wells.
Leutrim Citaku drove through red lights in April this year and narrowly missed a dad strapping his children into a parked car.
Maidstone Crown Court heard how the chase ended when the 20-year-old lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a lamppost and car.
Prosecutor Pierce Power described Citaku as Albanian but the defendant shouted from the dock that he was Kosovan.
He added that Citaku then tried to run away along Delves Avenue throwing a sock stuffed with 28 wraps of cocaine into a front garden.
He said when officers arrested him they discovered he also had £300 in cash in his pocket.
Ioana Nedelcu, defending Citaku, of Queripel Close, Tunbridge Wells had only been drug dealing for two days to help pay off loans.
She said he had arrived in the UK 11 months ago and had planned to claim asylum and had worked in car washes to make ends meet.
“He borrowed a large sum of money, about £500, and couldn’t pay it back and was forced into selling drugs.”
Judge Adele Williams jailed Citaku, who admitted dangerous driving, possessing cocaine intending to sell it and possessing £305 criminal property for three years and four months.
She also ordered the confiscation of the BMW, the cash and the drugs and banned him from driving for 59 months.
She told him: “Your put at risk the lives of other road users as well as your own.”
District Commander, Chief Inspector Peter Steenhuis said: "This drug dealer chose to speed through a residential area to avoid being arrested.
"He showed a complete disregard for the safety of others and narrowly missed members of the public before colliding with a lamp post.
"My officers are always alert for anybody they suspect to be supplying Class A drugs, and those who come to our town to deal cocaine should expect to be stopped and arrested."
