Maidstone drug dealer who made ecstasy pills in lab jailed for 15 years
Police found video footage of the lab on his mobile phone
Videos recovered from a mobile phone showed a drug manufacturing lab used by a Maidstone dealer to produce tens of thousands of ecstasy pills.
The recordings were filmed by Jamie Stacey-Evans and evidenced machinery to grind crystalised MDMA into powder, as well as a device set up to count the finished product in tablet form. The footage was discovered when police arrested him and he has now been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Officers executed a search warrant at Stacey-Evans’ home in Tree Court, Coxheath, on 23 January 2025, as part of an investigation into the supply of drugs across Kent. The ‘Jay line’ network had been operating since May 2024 and several phones used by Stacey-Evans were seized from the property.
This led to the retrieval of multiple videos and voice recordings connecting him to the wholesale supply of cocaine, MDMA, ecstasy, ketamine and cannabis. He could be heard in voice notes discussing orders to potentially produce as many as 100,000 ecstasy pills. Another audio clip indicated his involvement in the supply of 20 kilograms of cocaine.
Although an investigation didn’t lead officers to where the lab and machinery were located, Stacey-Evans, 35, was charged with three counts of being concerned in the supply of drugs and with being concerned in the production of drugs. He was further charged with possessing criminal property, in relation to more than £3,000 cash seized from his home. He pleaded guilty at Canterbury Court and was sentenced on 20 May.
Leading the investigation was PC James O’Gorman who said: "The vast amount of evidence recovered from his phone clearly illustrated that Stacey-Evans was producing and supplying drugs on a commercial scale. He was intent on flooding the market with huge quantities of illegal substances and some of the evidence recovered from his phones also included him discussing using a network of runners operating in fake business vans. Stacey-Evans has rightly received a significant sentence, one which is indicative of the leading role he occupied, as well as the harm and devastation criminals likes him cause to our communities."