Gloucestershire Police Operation Leads to 24 Years In Prison for Members of Drug Gang скачать в хорошем качестве

Gloucestershire Police Operation Leads to 24 Years In Prison for Members of Drug Gang

Four members of a class A drug gang are starting prison sentences this afternoon (Friday May 3) following conviction for conspiring to supply cocaine. The hearing at Gloucester Crown Court came after Gloucestershire Police led an investigation into a drugs enterprise that saw the group transport cocaine more than 200 miles on several occasions between Leicester and Gloucester. During the police operation Gloucestershire Police seized around half a kilo of cocaine with a potential street value in excess of £100,000. Officers allege that as a whole the conspiracy involved drugs with a potential street value of £250,000. Officers also seized a Bayliner speedboat worth more than £25,000 with a new sound system fitted to the cost of £2500 and a high spec motorbike; the ill-gotten gains of the man who orchestrated the group, 46-year-old Mark Dainty of Southgate Street in Gloucester. Dainty was also found to have used the drugs money to go on several exotic holidays. The operation began in early 2011. On Thursday April 21 2011 Gloucestershire Police traced one of the group's couriers; Erik Lee Thomas, 32, of Hayleaze in Yate, as he travelled in a Ford transit van between Worcester, Leicester and Gloucester. As he exited the M5 at junction 12 officers stopped his vehicle, as they did so he threw a bag from the van's window. The package was recovered and discovered to be 246 grams of high purity (around 73%) cocaine. Thomas was arrested on suspicion of supply of the class A drug. Following Thomas' arrest the police investigation continued and on Wednesday September 7 2011 Gloucestershire Police, supported by colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police and Leicestershire Police, carried out further arrests. In total seven people have been put before the courts as a result of the investigation by Gloucestershire Police's Serious and Organised Crime Unit. Mark Dainty entered guilty pleas to the charges of conspiracy to supply cocaine and money laundering. Today he was sentenced to seven and a half years for the drugs offence and two years for the money laundering offences. He will serve both sentences consecutively. Erik Thomas entered a guilty plea to the charge of conspiracy to supply cocaine. Today he was sentenced to four years nine months for the drugs offence. He was also given nine months in prison for dangerous driving and has been banned from driving for two and a half years. Raphael Wainwright Franks, 27, of Ryder Road in Leicester, entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was sentenced to four years imprisonment. Jason Edie, 28, of Ryder Road in Leicester, entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was sentenced to five years four months in prison. The first arrest of the operation came on January 20 2011 when another of the group's couriers was arrested. The 39-year-old Gary Paul George Hooper of Evenlode Road in Tuffley was later charged with possession with intent to supply a class A drug. On May 25 2011 at Gloucester Crown Court he was sentenced to four years imprisonment. A 30-year-old woman from Tuffley was also arrested as part of the investigation. She was charged with money laundering offences and was issued with a formal caution. Following the conclusion of the case Gloucestershire Police have released dramatic footage of Thomas' arrest to act as a warning to those involved in the use and supply of illegal drugs. Detective Inspector Neil Carpenter from the Constabulary's Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: "This investigation disrupted a major supply route of cocaine into the county and my team have convicted the main person responsible. "Dainty was living a luxury lifestyle with the illicit money he made by orchestrating the supply of cocaine and we're pleased to have both him and this harmful substance off our streets. "The footage we've released of one of the arrests shows the moment when one of Dainty's couriers Erik Thomas was captured and his poor attempt to dispose of the evidence. "Our investigation tracked the organisation as they sourced cocaine from Leicester and painstaking detective work and analysis also identified the persons who were supplying Dainty and they too were forced to plead guilty in light of the mass of evidence against them. "Force boundaries are no issue in these types of investigation as we aim to dismantle and disrupt whole criminal conspiracies. Proceeds of Crime Act hearings will follow to hopefully strip people of any profit they have made"