He boasted of wanting to be 'the biggest' drug dealer. He's now behind bars

A drug dealer who boasted of wanting to be 'the biggest' is now behind bars after police said he 'got too comfortable' in his life of crime.

Yanick Nzerasse, 28, was identified as being in charge of a drugs supply line known in the Wigan and surrounding areas as the 'blue line'.

Police raided his home in March and recovered the mobile phone operating the line - together with cocaine, heroin and cannabis worth more than £6,000. Analysis of the mobile, said police, uncovered thousands of 'bulk messages' being sent out to his customers on a daily basis.

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Messages on it from his girlfriend also said Nzerasse was 'only concerned about being the biggest drug dealer that made it out of Stockwell' - a refence to the district in south London where he used to live.

Nzerasse, of Winward Street in Leigh, Wigan, continued his enterprise despite having been arrested then released under investigation for drug-dealing months earlier.

A spokesperson for GMP's County Lines team said: "Nzerasse got too comfortable with his illicit enterprise, but after several months of hard work we've been able to secure a positive conviction." He was jailed for five years by a judge at Bolton Crown Court for drugs offences today - Tuesday.

'County lines' is where illegal drugs are transported from one area to another, often across police and local authority boundaries and usually by children or vulnerable people who are coerced into it by gangs. The 'county line' is the mobile phone line used to take orders of drugs.

Police said an investigation - codenamed Operation Treatment - was launched in 2023 into the 'blue line', which worked out of Wigan and the nearby areas.

In November that year, CCTV captured Nzerasse dealing drugs in a park near Wigan town centre. He was chased and arrested, but had thrown away the drugs he had. He was released under investigation as a result, but the police operation continued. It resulted in his home being raided in March this year. As well as the phone and drugs, additional phones, snap bags, and digital scales were also recovered.

The County Lines Team spokesperson added: "This was an effective investigation which has shut down a prolific drugs line.

"County lines drugs operations often have a life changing impact on the lives involved and those who are most vulnerable, and we will continue to move at pace to tackle those who are involved within those activities and protect our communities from this illegal activity."