Kent’s Deadly Drug Trade: Record Deaths, Million-Pound Gangs and the Dirty Money Trail

A record 138 drug-poisoning deaths were registered in Kent in 2025. Behind those figures are grieving families, people struggling with addiction and communities dealing with the consequences.

But there’s another side to Kent’s drug problem. Criminal gangs are making fortunes supplying illegal drugs. Some use luxury watches, cryptocurrency and apparently legitimate businesses to hide their money.

And there’s a question The Shepway Vox Team has asked before: when the police seize criminal profits, how much money is actually recovered, and where does it go?

We’ve examined four Office for National Statistics (ONS) datasets, Kent Police investigations, court confiscation orders, council reports and government estimates of the illegal drugs market. What emerges is a troubling picture of preventable harm, vulnerable people being exploited and criminal networks handling millions of pounds.

Kent’s drug deaths: the figures don’t tell the whole story

In 2025, Kent recorded 138 drug-poisoning deaths, compared with 115 in 2024. That’s an increase of 23, or 20%.

Medway recorded another 24 deaths, up from 23. Across Kent and Medway, the combined total reached 162.

Meanwhile, England and Wales recorded 5,519 drug-poisoning deaths, down slightly from 5,565 the previous year. Kent was moving against the national trend.

But look more closely.

Kent recorded 76 deaths specifically classified as drug misuse in 2024 and 77 in 2025. That’s an increase of just one, compared with 23 additional drug-poisoning deaths overall.

What’s the difference?

Drug poisoning includes deaths involving illegal substances, prescribed medicines and other drugs, whether taken accidentally or deliberately. Drug misuse is a narrower official category involving controlled drugs or certain drug-related disorders.

There is another problem. The ONS doesn’t receive the complete toxicology findings. When the exact drug isn’t recorded on the death certificate, some deaths cannot be classified as drug misuse.

So although drug-poisoning registrations increased sharply, we cannot say from these figures alone which substances caused the increase.

There is also an important warning about dates.

Of the 5,519 drug-poisoning deaths registered across England and Wales in 2025, almost 63% actually happened in previous years. Inquests can take months, sometimes years.

That means Kent recorded its highest number of drug-poisoning registrations in 2025. It doesn’t necessarily mean more Kent residents died during that calendar year than in any previous year.

Folkestone & Hythe has Kent’s highest estimated death rate

Canterbury recorded the most drug-poisoning deaths among Kent’s districts in 2025, with 21. Maidstone and Thanet followed with 17 each.

Folkestone & Hythe recorded eight, down from 10 the previous year.

That might sound reassuring. But comparing deaths with the size and age of the local population reveals something important.

Over 2023–2025, Folkestone & Hythe had the highest estimated drug-poisoning death rate among Kent’s 12 districts and Medway, at 11.8 deaths per 100,000 people. Thanet followed at 10.7 and Canterbury at 10.4.

England’s rate was 9.0.

The figures take account of differences in the ages of people living in each area, allowing a fairer comparison.

But the message is clear: Folkestone & Hythe has a serious drug-death problem that cannot be ignored.

Cocaine, heroin and a new generation of dangerous drugs

What drugs are involved?

The ONS figures for the South East provide part of the answer, although they cover the entire region, not Kent alone.

In 2025, heroin or morphine was mentioned on 169 death certificates, up from 159 in 2024. Cocaine was mentioned in 132, up from 120.

Antidepressants appeared in 105 deaths, compared with 90 the previous year. Benzodiazepines, which include sedatives, appeared in 75, up from 66.

These figures overlap. Someone who died after taking several substances might appear in more than one category. Nor does a medicine being mentioned mean it was improperly prescribed or obtained illegally.

Nationally, cocaine overtook heroin or morphine as the most frequently mentioned individual drug for the first time.

But there’s an important qualification. Cocaine mentions actually fell nationally, from 1,279 to 1,233. Heroin or morphine mentions fell even faster, from 1,415 to 1,210.

So cocaine didn’t overtake heroin because its national death count increased. Both declined. The South East, however, recorded increases in both.

Then there are nitazenes.

These powerful synthetic opioids can be far more potent than heroin. They’re particularly dangerous when people unknowingly consume them in contaminated drugs.

In March 2026, a contaminated heroin supply around Canterbury was identified as a significant factor in one death and more than 10 overdoses over two days. The Forward Trust issued a warning after the nitazene etonitazene was identified.

Separate police-attributed figures identified 14 Kent deaths forensically associated with nitazenes between 2023 and 2025. That doesn’t establish nitazenes as the confirmed cause of every suspected overdose, but the danger is real.

Thousands need treatment. Many aren’t getting it

Kent County Council estimate approximately 81,000 people use illegal drugs, including around 32,000 who use Class A substances.

It also estimates that 5,647 people use opiates or crack cocaine. Of those needing treatment, approximately 63% aren’t receiving it.

Nationally, the equivalent estimate is 54%.

These are estimates for Kent County Council’s area, rather than Kent and Medway combined, but the treatment gap is substantial.

This matters because people struggling with addiction may also face homelessness, mental-health difficulties and financial hardship. Treatment, housing support and early intervention can help prevent further harm.

Kent’s drug strategy recognises these problems. It also identifies disrupting illegal supply as one of its priorities. The question is whether the combined response is reaching enough people before another emergency occurs.

Kent’s drug gangs: a business worth millions

While thousands struggle with addiction, others profit from supplying the substances.

Kent Police has warned that county lines networks, where gangs arrange drug sales using dedicated phones, have increasingly become established locally. Vulnerable adults and children can be recruited or coerced into distributing drugs.

The force’s 2025 assessment also warned about nitazenes and synthetic opioids entering those networks.

The scale of police enforcement is considerable.

During 2024/25, Kent Police’s Serious Organised Crime team reported seizing 124kg of Class A drugs, 1,977kg of Class B drugs, £320,970 and 13 firearms.

The team made 150 arrests, resulting in 171 charges, with convicted offenders receiving sentences totalling more than 203 years.

Those are enforcement figures, not an estimate of all drugs circulating in Kent.

But what is the business worth?

The Home Office’s experimental wastewater analysis, updated in October 2026, estimated that England’s cocaine market alone was worth approximately £9.8 billion annually between August 2024 and July 2025.

Ketamine accounted for an estimated £900 million, heroin £300 million, and the six substances examined together around £12 billion. Cannabis wasn’t included.

Those figures represent estimated retail spending, not criminal profit. They’re national estimates, and there isn’t enough evidence to calculate Kent’s share reliably.

Individual investigations, however, reveal what some networks are handling.

In May 2026, Folkestone officers intercepted almost 50kg of cocaine on the A20, with an estimated street value exceeding £2 million. Two smugglers were subsequently jailed for a combined 17 years.

The drugs were seized, meaning their estimated value wasn’t realised sales income. Nor does the case prove they were destined for Kent customers.

Then there’s the East Kent network whose leader used a luxury-watch business to conceal criminal money.

The drug dealer, the Rolex watches and the false invoices

In March 2026, Bertie Payne, from Birchington, was jailed for 15 years after leading a drugs network operating across East Kent.

Between August 2024 and January 2025, the operation supplied 24kg of cocaine, 10kg of ketamine and 5,000 ecstasy tablets.

Kent Police put the value of drugs distributed at more than £800,000.

But the drugs were only part of the story.

Payne operated a luxury-watch business. Investigators established that false invoices were used to disguise criminal transactions.

In January 2025, police arrested him at Bluewater as he was preparing to hand over £50,000 in cash. Investigators also uncovered cryptocurrency dealings linked to the movement of illicit money.

The case provides a clear, documented example of a criminal network using an apparently legitimate business to conceal drug proceeds.

Money laundering means disguising money from crime so it appears to come from lawful activity.

Criminals may use proceeds to buy expensive goods, acquire property, fund their lifestyles or finance further offending. Some use professional money launderers rather than handling everything themselves.

But running a cash business, buying luxury goods or using cryptocurrency isn’t evidence of wrongdoing in itself. The criminal connection must be proved.

And that brings us to an investigation The Shepway Vox Team has already carried out.

The £4.925 million question Kent Police still needs to answer

On 31 July 2026, The Shepway Vox Team published The £4.925 Million Murder: Who Killed the Meaning of “Recovered” in Kent Police’s Crime Assets Claim?.

It examined Kent Police’s claim that nearly £5 million in criminal cash and assets had been recovered during 2025/26.

The police figures were straightforward: 61 confiscation orders worth £1,820,667 and 80 civil cases worth £3,104,391.

Together, they produced the headline total of £4,925,058.

But our investigation identified a fundamental problem. The total mixed different legal and financial outcomes, including confiscation orders, forfeitures, frozen assets and money returned to a fraud victim. Those aren’t all the same as money finally recovered and retained by the authorities.

At least £385,845 was explicitly linked to drug cases

Of the nine examples highlighted in Kent Police’s July announcement, three were identified as drug-related.

The Faversham amount was described as cash forfeited from a suspected dealer, whereas the Dymchurch and East Kent amounts were described as confiscated.

The combined figure is approximately 7.8% of Kent Police’s £4.925 million headline. It represents the three cases explicitly identified in the announcement, not the total amount associated with drug offences across all 141 outcomes. Other cases may also have involved drugs.

Our earlier investigation found another important distinction.

Kent Police’s 2025/26 accounts recorded £1.466 million in proceeds-of-crime income and £6.291 million held in trust at 31 March 2026.

The trust money was awaiting the outcome of proceedings. It wasn’t necessarily money the police could keep. And the £1.466 million was income recognised in the accounts, not the total recovered from criminals.

We made clear that the difference didn’t prove wrongdoing. It proved that the figures were measuring different things.

The public still needed a proper explanation of what had been ordered, what had actually been collected and where the money went.

More drug dealers ordered to pay in 2026

Since that earlier investigation, Kent Police has announced further confiscation orders.

In September, Tonbridge cocaine dealer Daniel Bruford, who ran the Scarface network, was ordered to pay £215,623. His operation had used multiple drug lines across West Kent.

In August, Medway cocaine dealer Frank Harris was ordered to pay £111,672. Investigators had recovered cash and luxury goods after examining his finances.

Then, on 22 October, two Ashford dealers, Bishal Gurung and Darshan Rai, were ordered to pay a combined £139,264.94.

Together, those three orders amount to £466,559.94.

These are later orders and mustn’t be added to Kent Police’s 2025/26 financial-year claim.

But the Ashford case shows why the distinction between an order and payment matters.

Although the court ordered almost £139,265, the two offenders were initially required to pay £9,113.91 within 28 days.

Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, investigators may pursue further assets later. Nevertheless, the existence of an order doesn’t establish that the entire amount has been paid.

Where does the money actually go?

When criminal assets are finally recovered, they don’t all go directly to Kent Police.

Money may be returned to victims. Under the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme, eligible recovered funds are also distributed between government, police, prosecutors and the courts.

This is why the amount ordered by a court, the amount collected and the sum appearing as police income can be very different.

The Home Office’s latest figures underline the importance of this distinction.

Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, receipts from confiscation orders totalled £150.9 million in 2025/26. Drug offences also accounted for £22.6 million in forfeiture recoveries, but those are national figures, not Kent’s share.

Kent Police has demonstrated that its financial investigators can trace and challenge criminal wealth.

The unanswered question is how much of Kent’s drug-related criminal money was actually recovered, rather than merely frozen or ordered to be paid.

That requires figures showing the original orders, payments received, amounts still outstanding and money ultimately distributed.

The families pay the price. The criminals chase the profits.

Kent’s drug problem cannot be measured solely by the number of people who die, the quantity of drugs seized or the number of criminals imprisoned.

It’s also about children exploited by county lines gangs, families living with addiction and thousands of people who need treatment.

The police have dismantled major networks and removed dangerous drugs from circulation. But the ONS figures cannot tell us how many deaths were connected to those networks, and convictions alone cannot prove the illegal market is shrinking.

Kent County Council, Medway Council, Kent Police and NHS partners all have roles in reducing drug-related harm.

The public needs to know whether treatment is reaching people, whether vulnerable children are being protected, whether dangerous drug supplies are being identified quickly, and whether criminal profits are being taken away permanently.

And the financial questions remain.

How much are Kent’s drug gangs really earning? How much is being concealed through businesses and assets? How much is recovered after court proceedings? And how much finds its way back into protecting the communities damaged by the trade?

The ONS can tell us how many deaths were registered. Kent Police can tell us how many criminals were arrested. But until the money trail is fully explained, the public is seeing only part of Kent’s drug problem.

The Shepway Vox Team will keep asking where that money goes.

The Shepway Vox Team

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