Head of ‘Defoe’ drug network in Portsmouth who fled to New York jailed for nine years

The head of a drugs gang who peddled crack cocaine and heroin from Southampton to Portsmouth has been sentenced to 9 years and 4 months imprisonment.

Samuel Watts, 29, of no fixed abode in Portsmouth was sentenced on Wednesday 25 June for the following offences:

• Conspiracy to supply a Class A drug – Cocaine
• Conspiracy to supply a Class A drug – Heroin
• Arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation.

Following an investigation led by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary’s Eastern Serious and Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) team, with support from the Portsmouth High Harm Team, into the supply of drugs in Portsmouth between January and April 2020, officers were able to identify two ‘lieutenants’ who organised the supply into the city.

By targeting suppliers operating in Portsmouth, Justin Koning (22) of Cotton Road in Portsmouth and Shariff Shakur (22) of Samuel Road in Portsmouth were identified as facilitating the supply of Class A drugs from an address in Bassett Avenue in Southampton to the streets of Portsmouth.

It was discovered that they did this by disseminating the drugs to be dealt by a number of runners, mostly children between the ages of 13 and 17, across Portsmouth. Koning and Shakur were themselves only 17 at the time of the offences.

This ultimately lead to the discovery of Watts, who lived in the Bassett Avenue address at the time, as being the head of the Organised Crime Group (OCG) known as the ‘Defoe’ line.

As a result of these investigations, officers arrested Koning, Shakur and Watts, as well as an 18 year-old woman who was located in Watts’ flat at the time of his arrest.

Blaze Faith of East Street in Havant, who is now 23, was arrested, charged and subsequently pleaded guilty to participating in OCG activities. She was sentenced in August 2024 to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for two years. 

Following Watts arrest on 28 April 2020, he was released on conditional bail the following day and subsequently breached his bail conditions by fleeing the country.

This resulted in the launch of a subsequent investigation, which would end up tracking him across several countries for almost five years.

Whilst Watts was still outstanding, Koning and Shakur faced justice for their part in the operation, both pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin, as well as human trafficking offences relating to the exploitation and use of children as drugs runners.

In January 2023, Koning was sentenced to 5 years and 7 months imprisonment for the offences, and Shakur to two years in a young offenders institution.

They were also handed slavery and trafficking prevention orders, which they are subject to for 7 years.

Watts was tracked across multiple country and was eventually located in a hotel in Times Square, New York, USA, where in February 2025 he was arrested by the US Marshalls Service and extradited back to the UK.

On return to the UK, Watts admitted to having travelled to Thailand, Malaysia, Dubai, Qatar, Indonesia, Portugal, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France and the USA since fleeing police in 2020.

He was returned to the custody of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and charged with the offences he was arrested for in 2020 (above).

Watts pleaded guilty to the offences at Portsmouth Crown Court on Monday 31 March and subsequently appeared again at the same court on 25 June, where he was sentenced to 9 years and 4 months month’s imprisonment. He was also handed a Slavery Trafficking Prevention Order, which he is subject to for 10 years.

Providing a statement for the case, PC Raheel Sarwar from the Metropolitan Police Service in London concluded that, based on mobile phone evidence collected from the Defoe line, between 23 January 2020 and 29 April 2020, the line are calculated to have supplied approximately 3.6 kg of crack cocaine and heroin in Portsmouth.

DC Alastair Charnley of the Eastern Serious and Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) team said “The conviction of Sam Watts is a great result for the people of Portsmouth and it shows that with high harm offences, like involving young people to deal drugs and putting them in great danger, it really is a high harm offence.

“It is really satisfying to tackle those people who are ultimately in charge of doing that, and profiting from those young people, and so the Slavery Trafficking Prevention Order is a great tool for the police to be able to use in the future to try and deter him from using children to progress his criminality.

“A big thank you to the Portsmouth High Harm Team for some really great street work in identifying and arresting the runners in the first place, being absolutely relentless, and then great partnership working with my team in SOCU.

“I’d like to thank colleagues in my team as well, it’s a real team effort, and other officers involved in the Portsmouth area.”