As armed police took a chainsaw to his front door, county lines drug dealer Tyler Flynn must have thought he had got the better of them as he fled through his back garden.
But moments later the 20-year-old was no doubt regretting his escape plan as he came face to face with an officer who tackled him to the ground and accosted him with a cheery 'Hello mate!'
Footage released by Essex Police showed Flynn bolting out of the rear of the home on June 30, unaware a drone was tracking him from above.
Wrenching the back gate open, the chain-wearing drug dealer was collared by the officers waiting on the other side.
'Hello mate!' one of the officers bellowed as he burst in, dragging Flynn to the ground by his shirt, as his colleague trained a rifle on the captive crook.
Asked if he had anything on him that could hurt the police, Flynn replied: 'There's a flick knife in my pocket.'
The moment 20-year-old Tyler Flynn was collared by armed police as he tried to flee out the back of a house in Basildon
Police had carved in the front door of the house with a chainsaw as part of a county lines-smashing operation
Flynn (circled) fled out the back door, unaware the officers were waiting for him on the other side of the gate
'Leave it alone then,' the officer quipped.
Conducting a search, officers found £1,400 in cash and dozens of wraps of Class A drugs in his bag, thought to be intended for onward supply.
Inside the property, police also found the flick knife, a machete, a baseball bat and a mobile phone used to co-ordinate the drug line.
Flynn, of Basildon, had been identified as a key figure in a county lines gang supplying heroin and cocaine in the area. He admitted possession of cocaine and heroin with intent to supply and possessing criminal property.
Appearing at Basildon Crown Court last week, he was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, with unpaid work and rehabilitation requirements.
Flynn's lawyer told the court he was forced to deal drugs through a job on a traveller site that he had been introduced to by an ex-girlfriend.
The Basildon Echo reported that he felt 'intimidated' and had been 'pressured' into carrying out deliveries.
Judge John Bristow warned him that he faced prison if he breached the conditions of his suspended sentence.
Flynn was tackled to the ground and searched, admitting to officers he had a flick knife
Police also found £1,400 in cash and dozens of drug wraps in his bag
The raid was conducted as part of Essex Police's drug ring-smashing Operation Raptor.
Detective Sergeant Jon Kemp, of the Operation Raptor squad, said the arrest showed drug gangs 'cannot operate in our communities with impunity'.
County lines gangs are seen as a scourge on Britain's streets, with children being enticed from a young age into working for the gangs with promises of gifts in exchange.
Schools are introducing classes to educate children on how to spot a county lines gang to avoid being drawn into a world of exploitation.
Gangsters are increasingly using social media platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat to recruit children into moving drugs.
The Home Office estimates that 15,500 children were at risk of, or involved in, criminal exploitation as of March 2025. Some 2,217 drug lines across England were smashed in the year to March 2026.