A criminal gang who flooded £18.5m-worth of cocaine into Swansea have been jailed for more than 83 years between them – with more members yet to be sentenced.
Jailing the eight, a judge told them they had been involved in a “very large, well-organised conspiracy” and that drug dealing brought “misery and death” to the city.
Swansea Crown Court heard the gang were involved in a “widespread and far-reaching conspiracy” to supply drugs across South West Wales, using a safe-house in Clydach to prepare and sell the drugs they transported from Liverpool, as well as other properties in Llanelli and Tycoch.
However the gang was unaware the police had placed covert listening equipment in their Swansea Valley base which recorded evidence of members going about their business.
Andrew Jones, prosecuting, said over the course of a year members of the gang made 34 trips between Swansea and Liverpool, bringing the high-purity drugs to South Wales and taking the profits from their dealing back to Merseyside.
'Significant influx' of drugs
In their safe house in Vera Road in Clydach the gang cut the cocaine with mixing agents and distributed it throughout Swansea, Carmarthenshire , and Pembrokeshire using a network of trusted dealers.
The gang also had links to the criminal underworld in Manchester and was also involved in supplying drugs in Scotland.
Mr Jones said that through their actions the members of the gang had been responsible for a “significant influx of Class A drugs” into South West Wales between November 2014 and November 2015.
Ian Michael Edwards, aged 30, of Britannia Crescent in Liverpool, was described in court as the head of the Liverpool side of the operation. He was jailed for 14 years.
His right-hand-man in Merseyside, who cannot be named for legal reasons, received 10 years.
Emma Roberts, of Clos Burlais, Cwmdu, Swansea, was given a five-and-a-half year sentence after the 34-year-old stored cocaine for the gang at her home.
Michael Sillitoe, aged 29, of Glebe Road, Loughor, was given an 11-year sentence.
Judge Paul Thomas said the defendant had been a regular visitor to the Clydach safe house and had acted as “shop assistant” in the enterprise.
The court heard Sillitoe had kept a 25kg barrel of Benzocaine — a bulking agent used when cutting down high purity cocaine ready for street deals — at a garage in Brondeg, Manselton.
'Exciting'
Donna Kellaway, aged 26, of Prescelli Road, Penlan, Swansea, was given a seven-year sentence.
The mum-of-two made a number of trips to Liverpool with another gang member, with whom she was said to be in love, to collect cocaine.
The court heard she became involved in the conspiracy through her partner – although she may also have found being part of the gang “exciting”.
Dane Paul Bush, aged 29, of High Street, St Clears, Carmarthenshire, was sentenced to 11 and a half years in jail.
The court heard he was a regular visitor to the gang’s Clydach base collecting drugs to supply in West Wales.
Bush has two previous convictions for trafficking cocaine — dating from 2008 and 2012 — and Judge Thomas told him he had shown no remorse for his part in the operation.
Kids used as cover story
Allen Heron, aged 38, of Roseside Drive, Liverpool, was given a 10-year sentence for his role in bringing cocaine to Swansea and taking cash back to Merseyside while follow courier Andrew Curphey, 37, of Cockburn Street, Liverpool, was given a seven-year sentence.
Bradley Carroll, aged 31, of Montpelier Drive, Liverpool, was given a seven-and-a-half year sentence for his role in the gang — he was described as being in the “upper echelon” of the Liverpool side of the operation.
The court heard the gang used sophisticated anti-surveillance techniques in an attempt to keep their enterprise secret including using dozens of disposable pre-paid mobile phones to conduct business, regularly switching vehicles, and creating cover stories for their couriers.
One of those transporting cocaine from Liverpool to Swansea even took his young children with him in the car as a “cover story” for his journey.
As well as the main base in Clydach the gang also used rented properties in Y Corsydd, Machynys, Llanelli , and in Lon Masarn, Tycoch, Swansea, to carry out their business.
Sending the defendants down, Judge Thomas told them they had gambled the money they could make from dealing against the risk of being caught – and that is was his duty to “shift the odds” and try to dissuade the next criminal gang tempted to set-up business in the city.
The remaining members of the gang will be sentenced on Wednesday and Friday.
see-http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/eight-members-gang-who-brought-11947730
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