A female drug dealer from Cornwall imported hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cocaine into the Duchy and sold it through a phone line named after her boyfriend. Sasha Ball ran the Scouse Baz line on behalf of Liverpool-based Brandon McAlister and used a local dealer to help her deliver the drugs to towns including Falmouth, Newquay, and St Ives.
She was caught bringing £10,000 worth of cocaine to Cornwall in a Maltesers box when police intercepted a white Mini driven by her sidekick Dylan Jode on the M5 near Cullompton in East Devon. A police inquiry showed there had been 14 delivery trips and that 8,705 text messages had been sent over four months offering to supply drugs. In that time the core customer base rose from 13 to 59.
The text advertisements all used the brand name Scouse Baz and used slogans including ‘up and active new one’ and ‘be fast or be last’ and offered discounts for bulk buyers. The operation started in late 2022 and was shut down after Jode and Ball were stopped on the M5 on March 7, 2023. She was sent to prison for an unrelated assault later that month.
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Police found a broken set of scales, materials for wrapping drugs and a bag of a cutting agent at Ball’s flat in Camborne alongside a pink coloured notebook in which she kept records of her dealing and who owed her money. There was evidence of how much she was making from the enterprise in the form of a pair of £600 Christian Laboutin shoes and a Burberry jacket.
Ball, aged 23, formerly of Sandy Lane Redruth but later of Penmorvah, Camborne; McAllister, aged 28, of Viking Close, Sefton: and Jode, aged 30, of Liverpool, all admitted being concerned in the supply of class A drugs. Judge Stephen Climie adjourned their sentence at Exeter Crown Court until next month due to lack of court time.
Miss Judith Constable, prosecuting, said there was evidence of Ball being involved in drug supply from about 2021 but the bulk of this case related to her activities with McAllister from September 2022 to May 2023.
The drugs were supplied from Merseyside, where he was based, and sold in West Cornwall by Ball with the help of Jode. McAllister and Ball both played a significant role and the line sold at least a kilogram of cocaine.
There were 14 known trips from Liverpool to Cornwall ending with the one during which police stopped a white Mini driven by Jode at Cullompton on the M5 southbound on March 7, 2023. The car was boxed in on the middle lane of the motorway but Jode refused to open the door and police had to smash the windows to reach him and Ball. Officers noted a strong smell of cannabis inside the Mini and Jode later admitted drug driving.
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They seized a phone which was being used to run the Scouse Baz line, £40 worth of cannabis, and 124 grams of cocaine worth £100,000 and hidden inside a Maltesers box. Jode had a list of numbers which added up to £3,100 and may have related to money owed by customers.
A search of Ball’s flat also revealed a drugs press and another dealer’s list on a pink notepad recovered from her kitchen. The pad also contained a step by step guide to setting up a County Lines organisation.
Analysis showed at least five phones had been used to send 8,705 messages offering drugs and conversations including one arranging the cash sale of a quarter of cocaine to a customer in Falmouth. Others related to delivering in Newquay and St Ives. The phone evidence suggested McAllister had made four visits to Cornwall and there had been a total of 14 delivery trips.
Mr Ramsay Quaife, for Ball, said she had worked with Jode rather than recruiting him to the enterprise and that she had not been the leading figure in the drugs line. He and the barristers representing McAllister and Jode will advance further mitigation when the final sentencing hearing takes place.
