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Gang member banned from Wolverhampton city centre locked up for drug dealing

A Wolverhampton gang member who was banned from the city centre last year has been locked up for dealing drugs.

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Bikramjit Philora, left, and Iko Anderson, right, have both been locked up

Iko Anderson, a member of the Glentworth Block Fam gang, was jailed alongside accomplice Bikramjit Philora after police found phone messages between the pair discussing cocaine, cannabis and weapons.

No drugs were found on either of the dealers, but mobile phone chats about drug values, weights and strategies to maximise profit led to their downfall.

Twenty-year-old Anderson, from Glentworth Gardens in Whitmore Reans, was arrested in January last year for his violent behaviour in clashes between rival gangs.

Having already been caught dealing heroin and cocaine 2016, Anderson was arrested for possession of an offensive weapon and then in May was one of six men hit with injunctions banning them from speaking to each other or visiting specified parts of Wolverhampton.

Hit with injunctions were, clockwise from top left: Iko Anderson, Romayne Brown, Tevin Thomas, Nya Graham-Shea, Kieron Thomas

The first injunctions of their kind used in the Black Country saw Anderson and five other suspected gang members banned from entering parts of Whitmore Reans, Pendeford, Heath Town and the city centre.

Police sought the injunctions after several violent gang incidents, including one where three Glentworth Block Fam members dived for cover as a shotgun was fired at The Golden Fryer chip shop in Whitmore Reans

However, Anderson later broke the injunction and was again arrested.

Now he and Philora have been jailed for a combined total of more than six years.

The incriminating phone messages were discovered when officers seized Anderson's Samsung following the spate of gang violence at the beginning of last year.

They soon found chats between Anderson and a contact named 'Bik', who turned out to be 32-year-old Philora.

As well as discussing drug strategy in the 10-day long conversation, the pair spoke about the need to purchase weapons to target rival gangs.

Anderson was arrested again in September alongside Philora and both men appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court on January 24.

After pleading guilty to supplying Class A drugs, Anderson was sentenced to three years and eight months behind bars.

Philora, from Crowther Road, Whitmore Reans, was found not guilty of supplying Class A drugs but admitted offering to supply Class A drugs and was locked up for two years and six months.

Anyone with concerns over drug crime should contact West Midlands Police on 101, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.