Officer's instincts lead to large drug seizure and prison sentence for local drug dealer

On Monday 7 August 2023, police were in the Shudehill area of Manchester responding to an unrelated issue, searching for a man who was believed to be in possession of a weapon. Officers were on patrol, and during the course of the evening, they spotted Snabities near to Oak Street, and he matched the description of the man they were searching for.

Snabities was on an e-bike, without a helmet and without a valid driving license. He failed to stop for police and made off from officers on his e-bike, driving dangerously. Officers chased Snabities on foot and he was swiftly detain on the junction of Whittle and Warwick Street, South Manchester.

Police searched Snabities and recovered large quantities of class A and B drugs, estimated to be worth almost £14,000, two mobile phones, and just over £120 cash. He was also in possession of a large bundle of calling cards which were advertising drugs.

After he was arrested, Snabities made several comments claiming the drugs were for his personal use only, and he only tried to flee from police because ‘I got drugs on me, innit’.

Following Snabities arrest, police searched his house on Foundry Lane, Manchester, where they found further drugs paraphernalia, consistent with him being involved in a drugs conspiracy. Forensic analysis was conducted on a black Nokia phone which was seized from Snabities when he was arrested. Messages recovered from the handset showed he was discussing drugs being delivered to customers, and hundreds of bulk messages were being sent to customers, also known as ‘flare’ messages, advertising the sale of drugs.

On Friday 4 October, Kenneth Snabities (12/07/1988) appeared at Manchester Crown Square Crown Court. He was sentenced to three years in jail. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A and class B drugs. 

Detective Constable Elkin from our City of Manchester Challenger team said: “Kenneth is a plague to the good people of South Manchester and finally finds himself at the start of a long prison sentence.

“This search meant we were able to remove a dangerous man from our communities. Not only do we conduct targeted operations weekly across the force to tackle drug crime, but often proactive stop searches and vehicle stops across the force result in significant drug recoveries and positive arrests and convictions.”

Our officers use local intelligence, execute warrants, seize criminal assets and target offenders as part of the force’s ongoing crackdown against serious and organised crime.

To report crime contact us via Live Chat on our website or by calling 101. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.