Footballer drug dealer planned to flood South London streets with £3m of cocaine and cannabis

A professional footballer has been jailed after his involvement in a large-scale drugs operation involving around £3 million worth of cocaine, ketamine and cannabis. Jason Pusey, 34, of Coperland Crescent, Market Weighton, York, was a well-respected footballer, even playing for Gibraltar's national team four times.

But it was revealed that the man had a secret second life, where he was intent on flooding South London with Class A drugs. The Metropolitan Police became suspicious of Pusey and began investigating an Encrochat handle 'Irregular Frog' in 2020.

Evidence from the Encrochat network, which encrypts messages, showed that Pusey was the only user of the Encrochat phone and was involved in the wholesale distribution of Class A and B drugs in South London. Through details such as passwords matching Pusey's family members and specific travel details matching Pusey's own, police connected the device straight to the footballer.

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The Encrochat also showed Pusey had been running a very successful drug operation, using South London gangs to distribute the Class A and B drugs. He was arrested at his home on June 20, 2023, and was charged a day later.

Pusey plead guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, cocaine and ketamine, as will as conspiracy to supply Class B drugs, cannabis, at Kingston-Upon-Hull Crown Court on Wednesday, 26 July 2023. And a year later, on Tuesday, July 2, he was jailed for 11 years and three months at the same court.

Detective Constable Duncan Askew, responsible for the investigation from the Met’s Specialist Crime team , said: “Pusey arranged large-scale drug deals while also maintaining a well-respected football career.

"On the surface he appeared as a doting family man – but he was making millions sending commercial scale amounts of controlled drugs to south London gangs. He did this all with no thought of the misery and devastation caused in London communities by drug supply, and the violence it leads to."

Got a story for us? Email anna.willis@reachplc.com.

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