Cocaine dealer monitored by undercover police was mainly out playing Pokémon Go, court told

A COCAINE dealer being monitored by undercover police was mainly out on his own playing Pokémon Go, a court was told.

Raymond Phipps, 41, has been jailed for five years for his role in a “highly sophisticated” drugs network.

 But surveillance officers tracking his movements for a year found he was mostly immersed in the popular video game Pokémon Go, which involves collecting “creatures” outside.

Phipps was followed covertly during an investigation into a drugs gang that supplied cocaine in Andover and Basingstoke, Hampshire, for 12 months from December 2019. 

The father, from Basingstoke, was caught with £13,350 cash — which he claimed was a wedding gift from his nan — in a Morrisons’ carrier bag.

The middleman was initially arrested in November 2020. He was found guilty of supplying cocaine and a conspiracy to supply the class-A drug.

Phipps was one of seven convicted, with five previously jailed. 

Defending, barrister Ioana Nedelcu told Winchester crown court that most of his movements were of him playing Pokémon Go rather than participating in drug dealing.

But Judge Nicholas Haggan said that Phipps was part of a “highly sophisticated and well-organised operation”. 

He told him: “The offences you have committed are so serious neither a fine alone nor a community penalty can be justified.”