Members of a £5.6m Liverpool drugs ring smashed after a 12-month police operation are facing 60 years behind bars.
The 12 men were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court today following a complex Merseyside Police investigation, dubbed Operation Kala, which culminated in a series of raids across the city on April 15 this year.
The men pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges after detectives monitored phone traffic and observed them as they conducted their illicit business.
During the operation officers seized 7kg of heroin, 3kg of cocaine, more than 300kg of cannabis resin, 45kg of amphetamine and seven cannabis farms containing a total of 550 plants.
Police also seized £25,000 in English and Scottish bank notes and Audi and a Mercedes car in the dawn raids.
Judge Andrew Menary, QC, sentenced ringleader Stuart Jones, 35, who lived in the city centre , to the highest prison term of 11 years and two months, after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine; conspiracy to supply heroin; conspiracy to supply amphetamines and conspiracy to supply cannabis resin.
He said: “There is no doubt that you played leading roles across the various offences and conspiracies involved. This means you were actively involved in dealing Class A cocaine and heroin and Class B Amphetamines and Cannabis. You were not discouraged by the police.”
(From left-right, clockwise): Andrew Billows, 26; James Whyte, 29; Paul Madison, 28; Martin Pearson, 25
The court heard Jones travelled extensively within Europe and beyond in the period investigated by police – May 1, 2014, to April 15 this year.
In February and March he travelled to Columbia, a nation notoriously linked to the trafficking of cocaine.
Brian Cummings, QC, prosecuting, said he also made trips to Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Rhodes, Arrecife and Madrid.
Detective Superintendent Lee Turner, of Matrix Serious Organised Crime Unit, said: “The main part of the business was run from addresses in Old Swan and the drugs were then distributed across the country, as far as Scotland and Wales.
“The group were also involved in anti -social behaviour in the Old Swan area and were not averse to using violence and intimidation to protect their trade in illicit drugs.”
Phone contact between Jones and James Whyte, 29, from Old Swan, led to a raid at the address of Steven Healey in St Ives Grove, Old Swan on August 21, 2014.
The court heard 247g of cocaine, of 74% importation purity, was recovered at the scene alongside 1kg of benzocaine, commonly used as a cutting agent.
On September 18, 2014, Jones arranged a delivery of cocaine to Andrew Billows and police raided his address in Huyton .
Judge Menary said: “Billows noticed the approach of the officers and attempted, with some success, to dispose of the drugs down the toilet.”
The court heard even after this Jones continued to supply heroin alongside close friend Alex Gibiliru, 22, from Old Swan.
Jones organised the trafficking of the drug into Merseyside, with Gibiliru arranging accommodation for the couriers.
(From left-right, clockwise): Philip Mason, 35; Steven Healey, 32; Yusuf Hassan, 49; Stuart Jones, 35. Copyright: Merseyside Police
Police seized 4.1kg of heroin from an address in Molyneux Court on November 4.
The highest value seizures relate to a raid on a garage belonging to a man called Gerald Worth, 53, of York Way, Huyton, who will be sentenced at a later date.
Police had observed a package being delivered from Worth to Darren Owens, 40, of Huyton.
The court heard 300kg of cannabis resin were located under the floor boards with an estimated value of more than £1m.
Judge Menary said: “The quantities of the drugs involved here are huge, and the potential financial gain these men must have expected would have been substantial, in the region of hundreds of thousands of pounds.”
The operation also uncovered large scale cannabis farms at various addresses across the city.
Det Supt Turner said: “Organised crime groups like this, who deal in the wholesale supply and distribution of Class A drugs, don’t care about the impact that the sale of drugs has on our streets.
“But I would like to reassure the decent members of our communities that Merseyside Police is committed to tackling the supply of drugs on our streets and we will continue to pro-actively tackle criminal gangs who think nothing of flooding the streets with dangerous drugs in order to profit from other people’s misery.”
The defendants and their sentences are:
Stuart Jones, 35, of One Park West Tower, Liverpool city centre, has been sentenced to 11 years 2 months
Andrew Billows, 26, of Birch Road, Huyton, 3 years 6 months.
Martin Pearson, 25, of Shaftsbury Crescent, Old Swan, 3 years 1 month
Adam Patrick Morrey, 27, of Greystone Road, Fazakerley , 2 years 9 months
Adam Stuart Lea, 27, of McQueen Street, Old Swan, 2 years 4 months
James Peter Whyte, 29, of Moscow Drive, Old Swan, 6 years 3 months
Steven Healey, 32, of St Ives Grove, Old Swan, 5 years 3 months
Alex Gibiliru, 22, of Rhuddlan Close, Old Swan, 6 years 3 months
Philip Mason, 35, of Dalegarth Avenue, Croxteth 6 years
Yusuf Hassan, 49, of Hall Lane, Kensington , 3 years 6 months
Darren Owens, 41, of Knowsley Lane, Huyton, 6 years,
Paul Maddison, 28 of Pilch Lane Dovecot, was sentenced to4 years 6 months
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/