Fifth member of Southampton ‘Zee’ drugs line jailed

A woman has been sentenced for her involvement in a drugs gang which supplied crack cocaine and heroin in Southampton over a period of ten months.

Lorraine Smith, 38, of Roberts Road in Southampton, appeared at Southampton Crown Court on Tuesday (17 December), where she was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for her part in the ‘Zee’ drugs network, which operated primarily in the Newtown area.

The network was disrupted and dismantled by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit, who seized more than 1kg of Class A drugs and £4110 in cash throughout the course of their investigation. More than 2000 individual wraps and larger packages of Class A drugs seized were found to have a street value in excess of £150,000. Police believe that the quantities supplied by the group as they operated between March 2022 and January 2023 will have been much higher.

Four men, also from Southampton, were sentenced at Southampton Crown Court in December 2023 to a combined total of almost 20 years in prison in connection with the Zee drugs line. Smith’s sentencing was deferred to a later date, but she failed to appear at court on two occasions, which the sentencing judge called ‘extremely disheartening’.

Detective Sergeant Claire Smith, who led the investigation, said: “Now that Smith has been sentenced, all five members of this organised crime group are behind bars where they will face the consequences for the harm they have caused in their own communities.

“Drug supply relies on the exploitation and abuse of vulnerable adults and children, and is often connected to other offences including violence on our streets.

“I hope that the combined sentence of more than 20 years for those who participated in this drugs line shows that we take drugs supply in Southampton extremely seriously and will relentlessly pursue those involved.

“Officers involved in this case worked tirelessly to dismantle this drugs conspiracy and I am pleased that those involved have now been brought to justice for their crimes.

“We continue to encourage anyone who has information about drugs supply in their neighbourhood to report this to police, as this helps us build up an evidential picture of the issues affecting your area.”

If you have concerns about drug-related activity in your neighbourhood please contact police on 101 or submit information to us online via https://www.hampshire.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/

You can also report information 100% anonymously via the charity Crimestoppers, which is completely independent of the police. They can be contacted by calling 0800 555 111 or by visiting https://crimestoppers-uk.org/